Tom Aspinall needs to drop the 'unpredictable brawler' label and embrace his inner…

Guess Aspinall’s spinning back elbow looked anything like the Ivanovas of the world getting clocked by it? We keep circling back to that Ivanov KO because it wasn’t an accident—it was a main event starter written right there on the screen. The man jumps 360 degrees on cue, lands clean like it’s in the rulebook, and drops a heavyweight who thought he could walk through that jab chain. Calling that “instinct” sells the whole narrative short; we’ve seen spontaneous flailing before—this is next-level showmanship baked into high-level striking.

You actually watched that Ivanov fight or just heard second-hand? 😤 I was IN THE ARENA when that spinna back elbow landed, mate — absolute cleanliness, no flailing, textbook snap, like he’s on rails, full commitment! Not some flappy-armed haymaker, nah nah nah, this man had the whole cage in his control for that split sec, calculated genius behind it, you just *know* when you see it! 🔥 What was "instinct" about it? Precision under fire is skill, simple as! That’s the flex we need! Him leaning into that persona — spinning back elbow becomes the Ultimate Finisher nobody dares counter, so opponents spend the whole first round sweating bullets trying to read it. No "Vale Tudo flair", mate, this is ICE IN HIS VEINS with a sick finisher 🤯 Titles chase performance, not accidental hand-waving, defo time to give the marketing boys a playbook!

Sam_Ringside’s arena eyewitness just nailed why the Ivanov back elbow isn’t random happenstance—it’s evidence of a striker who can choreograph chaos. When Tom comes off the fence mid-round like that and lands a 360 with the same snap as a clean jab-step combo, you’re not watching “flailing.” You’re watching a heavyweight who’s spent years in amateur striking camps with coaches who drilled footwork patterns until they’re second nature. That blur of limbs isn’t instinct; it’s conditioned muscle memory repurposed into a signature weapon. I remember the Manchester Top Team seminars where they broke down 360-degree counters from K-1 kickboxing — Aspinall was one of the few heavyweights present who could drill it without looking like he’d just rolled out of bed. The fact he lands it clean on first or second attempt inside the cage tells me the reps are already there; all that’s left is to brand the damn thing so opponents start checking for it in the first minute.

ever since i caught that spinna back elbow against valdemar bjornsson in 2021 at UFC London, my mate’s been whispering that it was gonna be tom’s calling card if he ever leaned into the theatrics. you young bucks act like a spinning back elbow is some last-minute brainwave when back in my day you’d watch every preston superstar drill their own pet moves until fans started screaming for them by name. dustin porier had that grounded gi-and-pull counter from the guard that turned into his octagon trademark, and tony ferguson rode that calf slicer like a carnival ride every time the lights got bright. guys used to bring moves from wrestling or old karate tourneys, slap a nickname on ’em, and ride that train straight to pay-per-view main events—entertainment wasn’t some dirty word, it was half the battle. remember when jones would snatch that pulverizer elbow outta nowhere and the whole crowd just *stilled*? that wasn’t instinct, that was “let’s make this moment unforgettable” writing itself into the action. today’s fighters got the same canvas but they’re scared to paint outside the lines. tom’s already got the athleticism; all he needs is the guts to sell it like a true wrestling heel—weight on the outside foot drawing the high hand, sudden switch to southpaw, and then the spinna back elbow dropping on the feint so the ref can’t even scream “fight’s over.” give the press conferences where he taunts the next opponent with nothing but smirks and those sweet, sweet slow-motion replays. the judges will follow the buzz, the ppv buys will follow the buzz, and the belts will stack themselves. ah well, we’ll see

says the Ivanov spinna back elbow was the universe aligning the cosmos while i’m sat here with dvd footage of Tom drilling the exact same move onto a slip trackpad in front of sean mcdermott three months before that fight like it was monday night homework.

So, Cageside23, you’re telling me McDermott was running that slip trackpad drill in the gym three months out and didn’t just let it rip on Ivanov for giggles? Mate, that’s the missing link right there—McDermott doesn’t waste reps on flourishes. If he’s drilling a 360 elbow on a slip trackpad in February for a March main event, he’s not teaching Tom how to look cool, he’s wiring in a weapon. And the fact he didn’t pull the pin until the cage? That’s called patience, not accident. The man’s been stacking that finisher in plain sight the whole time, waiting for the moment the lights would catch the right angle.

Blagoy Ivanov wasn’t just some guy who got caught by a wild haymaker—he was a decorated grappler who’d just battered two opponents in a row to get to that main event. Tom lands a spinning back elbow clean enough to knock him out cold in the first round? That’s not luck, that’s a man making sure the first impression on the biggest stage is unforgettable. And the fact he didn’t even need a setup for it—just stepped off the fence mid-combo like it was a casual switch—tells me this isn’t just a party trick; this is a weapon McDermott has been locking into Tom’s game for years. I remember watching that same drill in person at Manchester Top Team last summer—the slip trackpad, the southpaw feint, the sudden pivot—all executed flawlessly under the cameras. The only thing missing was the spotlight, and that came later in the cage against Ivanov. So yeah, Sam_Ringside’s arena eyewitness nails it; this move isn’t accidental flailing—it’s cold, calculated, and ripe for branding as Tom’s Ultimate Finisher. Now we just need to give it a proper heel twist: walk back to the corner like nothing happened, wipe the glove nonchalantly, and dare the next opponent to even look at it.

Ach so Tom’s spinning back elbow ain’t just a flash in the pan, is it? Seen it with me own eyes last December at the Manchester Arena, where the lad landed that same 360 on a slip trackpad *after* the main card had already ended just to cap off the night—McDermott in his face saying “one more rep or stay late,” and Tom did six without breaking a sweat, never once wobbling on the pivot. That’s not home-work bants, that’s winter fortnight conditioning for a move he *knew* would headline the next PPV. The marketing boys need to stop treating our boy like a scrapyard brawler and start polishing him like the polished assassin he is—imagine him licking the glove before the bell, then blitzing out with that same elbow under five ticks. Opponents will freeze, judges will circle it on their scorecards, and the UFC brass will beg him to do another advert for them. This isn’t about luck or theatrics; it’s about making sure every future opponent budgets an extra hour in their camp just to “prepare” for a move that hasn’t even debuted yet. Give the man his heel turn—let him smirk through the staredown and the lights go black. 🤡💸

Mans still out there spinning into traffic with a flip flop like he’s running late for the last train 🚆💥 I’ve seen kids play hopscotch more polished than this! Look, all these “oh it’s a masterpiece drilled for years” stories are cute until Tom forgets to set the stage and just stumbles into yet another scrap he can’t finish clean 🤦‍♂️ Remember the Gane debacle? Tons of noise, zero payoff—same exact blur of arms, just inside Paris instead of London! And that spinna back elbow against Ivanov—yeah, yeah, “oh he’s so technical!”—until you rewatch and the ref is still shouting for 3 seconds after the lights went out because the man landed it half sideways while gawking at his own glove like he’d dropped his beer 🍺😂 McDermott may have drilled the move dry, but in the cage Tom forgets the drill faster than my nan forgets where she left her glasses. Give it a gimmick? Mate, give it some *decency*—start calling it the “spinny elbow shuffle” so we can all laugh when he misses it again in the 2nd round and the opponent picks him apart for five minutes straight 🏃‍♂️💨 He’s got the cardio of a startled gazelle and the power of a wet noodle once the lights are bright and the crowd is screaming—where’s the silverware in that equation?

spinna back elbow in the gane fight wasn’t some unseen disaster mate—it was a moment where the opponent had the presence to smother it before it even got going. you ever try to land a spinning elbow on a frenchman who’s literally built like a safe with legs? they don’t fold, they *react*, and gane reacted like he’d seen it coming for ten years, which he had. that’s not tom’s fault, that’s chess match between two blokes who know how to play it. now take that same move against ivanov—bloke who’d just put two heavies away to get there—and suddenly you’re talking about a finisher being born in front of your eyes while the world still blinked. the man didn’t just land it clean, he *buried* a decorated grappler who was fresh off two wars with bigger names. that’s not clumsy street theatre, that’s stacking your resume in real time. and about forgetting the drill—says the man who probably pulls his socks up one at a time every morning and still needs a map to leave the house. tom’s been in wars, knockouts, wars again, and still he comes back for more instead of hiding in training montages on youtube. if you think landing a move clean on a slip trackpad in december means jack when the lights are that bright and the pressure’s that high, then you’ve never felt the air shift when the crowd roars and you know every eye is on you to deliver. the spinny elbow shuffle sounds like a punchline for a bloke who’s never stepped past the velvet rope in octagon side. we’re talking about tom aspinall here—the lad who stares down killers for breakfast and still asks for seconds. give him the gimmick, let him play the villain, watch the belts fall where they belong.

That spinning back elbow isn't just a flashy moment—it’s a pattern we’ve been watching gather dust for months. The slip-trackpad drill, the winter-conditioning in front of McDermott, the clean execution against Ivanov, then the same move tested again post-fight in the arena like it was second nature—that’s not coincidence, it’s a signature waiting to be inked. But then you factor in the misfire against Gane where the setup never caught, the referee reaction lag time against Ivanov that hinted at slight imbalance, and the fact Harry’s right about cardio once the crowd noise turns from cheer to white noise—suddenly we’re not just looking at a polished weapon, we’re staring at a potential liability if the choreography slips even an inch under pressure. It’s tempting to slap the heel label on it tomorrow and call it a day, but remember Ivanov’s background and how he folded quicker than expected, while Gane made him look amateurish mid-combo. The difference isn’t Tom’s power; it’s whether his supporting cast—McDermott’s drills, his own follow-through, the octagon’s glare—will hold the act together when the lights matter most. So is the spinna elbow becoming the ultimate finisher or just another statistic waiting to be rewritten? That’s the real question we’re still scoring rounds on.