UFC CEO Dana White has spoken about the significance it would mean to the strongest league to have a heavyweight division champion from the UK.
Eurosport quotes White as saying:
Look at Leon Edwards, look at what he's done and what he's accomplished, and now we're going to find out what Aspinall can do over the next several years. If you can have a reigning, defending, heavyweight champion of the UFC, born and bred in the UK, it's going to be massive, not only for the sport and this region but for the UFC as a whole.
Recall, 27 July in Manchester will be held in the UFC 304 tournament. In the main event, Englishman Leon Edwards will fight with Palestinian Belal Muhammad. In the co-main event, British native Tom Aspinall will fight American Curtis Blaydes.
Aspinall last stepped into the octagon in November 2023 at UFC 295, defeating Sergei Pavlovich by first-round knockout. He has 14 wins and three losses on his record.