UFC Vegas 36 video: Tom Aspinall blasts Serghei Spivac with standing elbow, finishes with punches on the ground

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Tom Aspinall remains one of the fastest rising contenders in the heavyweight division following another jaw-dropping finish at UFC Vegas 36.

The heavy-handed British slugger needed less than three minutes to connect with a perfectly timed knee to the body followed by a clubbing elbow strike that put Serghei Spivac down on the canvas. Once the fight hit the floor, Aspinall just unloaded with a blistering series of punches, which forced the referee to stop the fight.

The end came at just 2:30 in the opening round.

“I’m extremely happy,” Aspinall said after moving to 4-0 in the UFC. “Every time I get in this place, I’m godd*mned scared to death. I express myself through that fear and I use it to my advantage.”

After Spivac accepted the fight on short notice, Aspinall looked to take advantage as he came out throwing hard shots from the first exchange, although he revealed after the fight that one of his earliest punches may have actually injured his hand.

Regardless, Aspinall was setting up his strikes and avoiding anything Spivac was throwing back at home.

With the fighters willing to trade shots from the inside while still on the feet, Aspinall came forward with the knee to the body and then the elbow that spelled the beginning of the end for Spivac. Once Spivac hit the ground, Aspinall had no intention of letting him get back up again.

With a perfect record in the UFC and a 100 percent finishing rate, Aspinall appears to be a serious threat to anybody in the heavyweight rankings, although he’s adamant about a slow and steady climb towards the top of the division.

“I just want to fight someone ranked above me,” Aspinall said. “I’m trying to move up this thing slow. If I’m No. 13, give me No. 12.”