"Is the Dagestan shirt enough to stop a Curtis Blaydes takedown?" - Fans sound off on before and after photos of Tom Aspinall and Muhammad Mokaev taken after an 8-year gap

Some fans are unsure if Tom Aspinall will be able to nullify the wrestling of Curtis Blaydes.

UFC London is set to take place on July 23, with Aspinall vs. Blaydes being the high-stakes, heavyweight fight set to headline the card. Also on the card, Muhammad Mokaev clashes with Charles Johnson in a flyweight bout.

Aspinall and Mokaev have a history with one another. This was captured in a recent flashback post that showed before and after photos of both fighters with each other spread eight years apart.

In a tweet sent out from the BT Sport UFC account, they said:

""Look at us... Who'd have thought?" @AspinallBJJ x @muhammadmokaev in 2014, and in 2022 at #UFCLondon Time flies!"

Twitter user @naj21 responded in the tweet thread and said:

"Is the dagestan shirt enough to stop a Curtis blaydes takedown?"

The reference to the Dagestan shirt from this fight fan is, of course, addressing the well-regarded grappling of people from that area of Russia. This skillset would very much come in handy against someone like Blaydes, who has some of the most effective wrestling/ground-and-pound in the history of the UFC's heavyweight class.

Mokaev is undefeated in mixed martial arts and looks ready for his sophomore UFC fight. 'The Punisher' hopes to move to 7-0 as a pro and extend his winning streak, dating back to his amateur days, to 31 straight fights.

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Tom Aspinall's road to Curtis Blaydes

Tom Aspinall is riding an eight-fight winning streak into what is his second consecutive UFC London main event.

Aspinall cut his teeth with promotions like BAMMA and Cage Warriors before making his UFC debut in July 2020. He has a 100% finishing rate across his five octagon outings so far.

Though Blaydes is not confident a win here will get him a title shot, many pundits and fans alike see this as a possible title eliminator. Aspinall is the No.6-ranked contender, while Blaydes is presently the No.4-ranked heavyweight in the UFC.