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Tom Aspinall had 17 days notice to prepare for the biggest fight of his life in the world's most famous arena at UFC 295 – but he's the man for the job.
Michael Bisping has backed the 30-year-old Brit heavyweight (13-3) to stop Russian knockout king Sergei Pavlovich (18-1) to claim interim heavyweight gold to book a bout for the full title – which might well come against current champ Jon Jones.
Bisping, now a UFC Hall of Fame inductee and analyst as a former middleweight champion, won his own title in similar circumstances after stepping in at short notice to stop Luke Rockhold in 2016.
UFC 295: Tom Aspinall ready to 'do a Bisping' against UFC's 'most dangerous man' on two weeks notice
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Bisping was quick to contact Aspinall after he agreed to take on Pavlovich at Maddison Square Garden on November 11 – and has now detailed his path to glory against a man with six consecutive first-round knockouts.
He told Daily Star Sport ahead of his return to the UK with Tales from the Octagon 2: "Sergei hits so incredibly hard and he's fast as well. So he's not a one trick pony, but the difference is the footwork and the agility of Tom.
"I mean, if we saw him, if you look at the fight with Marcin Tybura in London, I mean, he was bouncing in and out.
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"I said he was like Muhammad Ali that night and he really was, he was floating like a butterfly stinging like a bee.
"So I think he'll pop in and out. Use his speed faint jab his head off and then after two or three rounds doing that, then I think he'll shoot a double leg takedown and then I think it's over, I really do.
"Maybe I'm too high on Tom, maybe I'm underestimating Sergei. But that's how I see it."
Bisping was the first and only Brit UFC champion until Leon Edwards stunned Kamaru Usman in Utah last year and defended his title in London.
Bisping's short-notice triumph gave him the perfect position to advise the next Brit to fight for a belt, with Aspinall already thanking him.
The 44-year-old continued: "If anyone can do it, it's Tom Aspinall and the similarities between the two situations are kind of freaky, to be honest. I mean, it was two and a half weeks for Tom and two and a half weeks for me.
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"So as soon as I found out a few days ago, I sent him a little message, wishing him all the best and saying, look, listen, it's not about the two weeks.
"It's about the entire lifetime of work and preparation that he's put into this. So I've got no doubt in my mind, Tom's gonna go out there and win the interim heavyweight championship – then unify that title when he gets his hands on Jon Jones."
Come December, Bisping will be back in England and set to appear alongside both Aspinall and Scottish MMA icon Paul Craig in Tales from the Octagon 2.
Following the success of his solo tour last year, he is back for dates in London and Manchester for a night of UFC fun and games.
He added: "I didn't set out to star a career or anything doing this kind of thing, but I had such a great time and fortunately the crowd did. I absolutely loved it.
"A couple of dates then came up in Manchester and London this year and I jumped at the chance."
Tickets for the Thursday December 14 date in London and Saturday December 16 date in Manchester are available now from MyTicket.co.uk.
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