WATCH: ‘No courage without fear’ – Tom Aspinall receives motivating words from Canadian MMA legend ahead of SCARY Sergei Pavlovich matchup at UFC 295

Tom Aspinall received a video message from Georges St-Pierre ahead of his fight with Sergei Pavlovich.

WATCH: ‘No courage without fear’ – Tom Aspinall receives motivating words from Canadian MMA legend ahead of SCARY Sergei Pavlovich matchup at UFC 295

Tom Aspinall received a message from GSP ahead of his fight with Sergei Pavlovich (via IMAGO)

Tom Aspinall is facing Sergei Pavlovich for the UFC interim heavyweight champion this weekend. The Russian fighter is the most dangerous heavyweight contender in the UFC. This fight is going down as the co-main event of UFC 295. Ahead of the biggest fight of his career, Tom Aspinall received a message from one of the greats of MMA, Georges St-Pierre.

In the video, Georges St-Pierre acknowledged that Tom Aspinall was fighting against a scary fighter that nobody in the division wanted to fight. Sergei Pavlovich has an impressive winning streak of six, with all wins coming off a brutal first-round knockout. GSP further appreciated Aspinall’s courage to fight Pavlovich and motivated him to give his best. 

You're fighting a scary man, a man that everybody's trying to avoid and nobody wants to fight. And you choose to fight him. I like the spirit. That's what it takes to be a champion. There's no courage without fear. You lead the dance, fight your fight. No regret and you leave everything out there. Best of luck. I'll be watching and cheering for you my friend.
Georges St-Pierre (via X)
YouTube video

Tom Aspinall is one of most the well-rounded fighters from the UK. Now, he is eyeing to become the only third UFC champion from the UK joining the likes of Michael Bisping and Leon Edwards. But he has a steep challenge ahead of him as he’s facing Sergei Pavlovich who has menacing power in his hands.

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This fight between Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich was made on two weeks’ notice. Previously, Jon Jones was to put his heavyweight title on the line against Stipe Miocic. But due to an injury suffered by Jones, this fight was canceled. As such, the UFC replaced it with an interim title between Aspinall and Pavlovich.

Tom Aspinall denies saying that Sergei Pavlovich declined to fight him

In the lead-up to the fight, Tom Aspinall was accused of saying that Pavlovich refused to fight him. In the UFC 295 press conference, a reporter questioned Pavlovich regarding why he declined the fight against Aspinall, citing that the latter had earlier said that Pavlovich didn’t take the fight.

Sergei Pavlovich-Tom Aspinall
Sergei Pavlovich-Tom Aspinall (via UFC/DAZN)

However, Tom Aspinall interrupted the reporter and said that he never stated Pavlovich refused to fight him. But the reporter was persistent in claiming that he did. Later, Aspinall cleared the air by mentioning that Pavlovich once pulled out of the fight due to visa issues and he never claimed the Russian to be scared of fighting him.

Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich were to fight at the end of 2021 but it was cancelled as the latter had some visa issues. Now they face each other with the interim title on the line. This fight takes place in the most prestigious Madison Square Garden Arena as the co-main event of UFC 295.

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