UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is set to face Curtis Blaydes at the UFC 304 to defend his title.
Curtis Blaydes is among the top pound-for-pound fighters, behind other fighters like Jon Jones. It seems Aspinall isn’t too happy about this ranking and has criticised UFC for their ranking.
“What is this pound-for-pound bulls***? It’s all rubbish,” Aspinall said. “It just doesn’t even make sense. Don’t get me started on that s***. How can you have a pound-for-pound? Does that mean if everyone is the same size…how can you compare Demetrious Johnson’s style to Brock Lesnar’s style? Completely different attributes…
Aspinall states that there is no definite way to test a pound-for-pound ranking. In some cases, it means the best fighter regardless of weight class, but an argument has been made that the ranking should be based on accomplishment across all divisions.
“I have a bulldog. It’s like if my bulldog had a really long neck, it would win the ‘Giraffe’ of [Bulldogs]. How can you compare it? It’s a load of rubbish.”
Heavyweight fighters are not given notable recognition in the pound-for-pound ranking due to their lack of martial skills. Their fights usually involve more striking, and heavyweight fighters aren’t considered well-rounded mixed martial artists.
“We’re definitely getting better in terms of skill,” Aspinall said of the heavyweights. “But I think as far as guys who actually are good in all aspects of MMA. I think there’s probably seven or eight of us who are like elite level at MMA.
“The other guys are more like guys who could knock you out, and that’s really it. Heavyweight MMA kind of has its own rules in that regard. In any other division, you need to be fully skilled everywhere, where, in the heavyweight division, there’s still guys knocking around who they just need to hit you once but they’re not really great everywhere else.”
