Tom Aspinall admits he is “scared” of fighting Sergei Pavlovich, but says he does his best work under pressure

Tom Aspinall says he’s scared of Sergei Pavlovich but believes he does his best work when he is afraid.

Aspinall is set to face Pavlovich on two weeks’ notice in the co-main event of UFC 295 for the interim heavyweight title. It’s an intriguing matchup and a fight that many fans have wanted to see, as the two look like the future of the heavyweight division.

Although Aspinall is a professional fighter, he admits fighting Pavlovich is scary and intimidating but he says he does his best work when he’s scared.

“Pretty scared,” Tom Aspinall said at the UFC 295 press conference about fighting Sergei Pavlovich. “Scary guy, mate. He’s definitely an intimidating guy, but with that being said, I do my best work when I’m scared. Fear is something I have a really good relationship with. It gives me a superpower, generally speaking, the more scared I am, the better I do in the fight. ‘DC’ (Daniel Cormier) actually told me today about a honey badger. That’s me, I’m the honey badger moving forward, I’m happy with that, that’s cool.”

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A honey badger is known to show aggressive defensive behaviors and will stand their ground when they feel threatened. So, Tom Aspinall says he’s using that as motivation for his fight against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295.

There’s no question that Pavlovich is a scary person and scary inside the Octagon. The Russian enters his fight against Aspinall on a six-fight win streak and has won all six fights by first-round knockout.

Despite being scared of Sergei Pavlovich, Tom Aspinall is currently a slight -118 favorite while the Russian is -108 to win the interim heavyweight title. Aspinall enters the fight coming off a first-round TKO win over Marcin Tybura to return to the win column after he blew out his knee against Curtis Blaydes.