UFC London results: Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett…

UFC London results: Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett cruise to wins as Molly McCann hits brutal spinning elbow

If Tom Aspinall can put on the kind of clinic that saw him ease past number 6-ranked Alexander Volkov in the first round of their heavyweight clash at UFC London during his first fight in front of fans, the future really is bright.

The risk, even apart from Volvok’s power itself, was that Aspinall would get carried away. The 28-year-old had never even appeared in front of a paying support before, let alone in a main event, and a raucous crowd packed into the 02 Arena could well have been seductive.

Still, Aspinall remained diligent. Opening the round with some strong right hands, his takedown approach was on point before powering his way into an arm-hold that would eventually claim him his biggest scalp to date.

Elsewhere on a packed card to celebrate the UFC’s return across the pond, Paddy Pimblett proved equally as impressive during his first-round submission win over Kazula Vargas. A box-office presence already, he was joined by Molly McCann inside the octagon not long after she had cut her post-fight press conference short to watcher “her brother”.

McCann’s victory over Luana Carolina came slightly later than either Pimblett’s or Aspinall’s but the spinning elbow that ended it was well worth the wait.

As Paul Craig, whose risky game-plan to draw Nikita Krylov onto him before locking onto a hold paid off excellently, said in his post-fight interview: “This isn’t a sport to be watched with a cup of coffee on the sofa at 5am feeling tired.”

Indeed, nights like this prove the almost insatiable appetite for MMA on British shores. With so many good fighters, it’s easy to see why.