Tom Aspinall was fully invested in the UFC 328 main event Saturday night, but the commentary team left him frustrated throughout the fight.
While watching Sean Strickland defeat Khamzat Chimaev to reclaim the middleweight title, Aspinall repeatedly pushed back against the analysis coming from the broadcast booth.
Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier, and Jon Anik handled commentary duties during the event at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Aspinall credits Khamzat’s bodyshots
Aspinall first took issue with the discussion surrounding Strickland’s fatigue late in the fight.
“’DC’ talking bout the only reason Sean Strickland is getting tired is because Khamzat is landing body shots,” Aspinall said.
“Not the fact that they’ve just had a fight for 20 minutes. That doesn’t matter. It’s just the body shots that are making him tired, nothing else.”
Aspinall also wanted less talking during corners
The UFC heavyweight champion also expressed frustration over hearing analysis during corner instructions between rounds.
“We can’t hear the corner work because Joe Rogan is talking bout how bad Khamzat’s cardio is after all his training,” Aspinall said.
“I wanna hear the corner. Stop telling us about Khamzat’s cardio.”
Watch his video here
Aspinall defends Strickland’s jab-heavy offense
The main event remained close entering the fifth round, with Strickland relying heavily on his jab while Chimaev looked for bigger moments. Aspinall disagreed with how the commentary team framed the striking exchanges during the final minutes of the fight.
He argued that Strickland’s steady jab was clearly affecting Chimaev as the fight progressed.
“The commentators are saying, ‘Sean has got to land some big shots to win the fight in this fifth round,’”
“I know they’re jabs, but he is landing a lot of them. Just because it’s a jab doesn’t mean it’s insignificant.”
“It’s still a powerful strike that is causing damage, so I disagree with the narrative that just because they are jabs, they are not effective.”
“The commentators are talking like it’s insignificant just because they are jabs, and it isn’t.”
“They are still doing damage. They are still landing. There are significant strikes.”
“You only have to look at Khamzat’s face to know they are good strikes.”