‘That was nice’ – Tom Aspinall left stunned after wrestling with retired rugby player Ugo Monye
Tom Aspinall got more than be bargained for during a playful grapple with retired rugby player Ugo Monye.
The interim UFC heavyweight champion taught Monye some basic wrestling moves and the two men took turns slowly drilling them on each other.
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Aspinall then ‘upped the ante’ by proposing an all-out grappling exchange where he would attempt to reverse the former England and British and Irish Lions winger.
The 31-year-old invited his sparring partner to try to do the same thing to him after being impressed by what he had witnessed during their brief exchanges.
“He’s got a good feel of how to get someone on the floor,” Aspinall told his ‘’ co-host Adam Catterall. “Obviously, he’s been doing rugby all his life.”
“If you can feel a way to reverse me, get me over, or whatever, go for that.”
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“If you wanna run into me as hard as you can go for it.”
After a moment of hesitation, Monye charged his 6ft 2in, 14.7 stone frame at Aspinall, who expertly defended the powerful takedown attempt without any issues.
However, he ended up on his back when he tried to reverse Monye.
Aspinall went for a trip, but Moyne pushed him off and he crashed to the floor.
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The UFC superstar bounced back up and tried to judo throw Monye, who impressively used the skills he’d just learned to defend the attempt and remain upright.
Eventually, Aspinall ended up in the mount position as he got the trip he was looking for and fended off the rugby player’s attempt to reverse it when they got to the floor.
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Catterall raved: “I’ll tell you what, he’s got some good techniques!”
Aspinall grinned as he praised Moyne for his surprisingly decent effort.
He added: “That was nice. Well done, mate, that was good.”
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Footage of their playful grapple quickly went viral on social media and UFC fans expressed their amazement at how well Moyne did against one of the best pound-for-pound MMA stars.
One fan said: “This dude would beat up most top 15 HWs lmao.”
Another wrote: “Fair play Ugo!!! What a f****** beast, don’t f*** with that man.”
A third person added: “Ugo looks like a monster and naturally a really good wrestler.”
Someone else joked: “I’ve seen all I need to see. Give him (the rugby player) Jon Jones.”
Aspinall is fresh off an interim title defence against top contender Curtis Blaydes.
The Atherton native needed just 60 seconds to dispatch Blaydes at UFC 304, and then he used his post-fight speech to call for a unification fight with Jon Jones.
Jones has held the proper UFC heavyweight belt since March 2023, and he’s expected to defend it against two-time champion Stipe Miocic in November.
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Aspinall insists he’ll be ready to fill in if either man drops out of the fight. If he’s not needed, then Aspinall will wait to face the winner in 2025.
"I'm gonna be the backup for the fight,” he recently revealed. “If one of them pulls out, you better believe I'm in. On an hour's notice if I need to."
“I should be the undisputed heavyweight champion. Everybody knows that now.
"My body of work over the last few years shows that I took out every contender that there is at this point, and I should be the UFC heavyweight champion.
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"I'm the best heavyweight in the world and I'll wipe out both [Jones and Miocic] in one night if I need to.
"I'm fighting for the undisputed next. I'll fight anybody for the undisputed title, but I'm not fighting for the interim again."
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