Tom Aspinall surprises by choosing his UFC jiu-jitsu GOAT: 'Few could stop him'

Tom aspinall is the UFC interim heavyweight champion. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram

In his respected career, Tom aspinall cemented his status as a 'truly phenomenal puncher', rendering anyone he hits unconscious. The UFC interim heavyweight champion's performances were so impressive that the former interim welterweight champion (up to 120,2kg), Colby covington, thinks the champion Jon Jones will retire rather than fight the British.

However, Aspinall is much more than just a striker. The Brit is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and, on his YouTube channel, he spoke openly about who he believes is the greatest competitor in the technique to have passed through the UFC.

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Tom aspinall believes that no one in the history of the organization has demonstrated better jiu-jitsu in MMA than the Brazilian Demian Maia. The ADCC gold medalist from Abu Dhabi was nothing short of terrifying when he got a hold of someone, displaying tremendous skills to apply submissions that left his opponents with no choice but to tap out.

“I will choose Demian Maia. I don't know what his jiu-jitsu credentials are; there may be guys out there with better jiu-jitsu credentials than him outside of MMA. I judge that by their effectiveness in MMA, because that's the sport we're talking about. But Demian Maia, he was predominantly a jiu-jitsu specialist, he didn't have much else in the closet. But he was still taking everyone down and finishing them,” Aspinall said. (see below)

The British fighter then gave more details and continued explaining why he made his choice.

“What makes Demian Maia "What's so great is that everyone knew what was coming, but a very limited amount of people were able to stop him from doing it. He's my GOAT of MMA jiu-jitsu," said the Brit.

Demian Maia fought for the UFC title on two occasions

Demian Maia in his UFC days. Photo: Disclosure

The jiu-jitsu legend was a fantastic finisher during his UFC heyday. As Aspinall commented, the Brazilian may have had a limited amount of tools, but when his fights got to the ground, he was nothing short of 'terrifying'.

In his esteemed career, Maia fought for the UFC title twice, losing to the legend Anderson Silva e Tyron woodley.

However, while the fights didn't go exactly as he planned, Maia still built a fantastic resume. During his time in the world's top MMA organization, he picked up a plethora of big wins, including submitting Ben Askren, Carlos Condit and Matt Brown. At 45 years old, the Brazilian has a cartel of 28 wins and 11 losses in MMA.