Alexander Volkov-Tom Aspinall to Headline UFC London in March; Pimblett-Vargas Booked

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship is stacking the deck for its first jaunt to Europe since 2019.

Per the UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN on Thursday night, UFC Fight Night 204 on March 19 in London now has a headliner. At heavyweight, Alexander Volkov (34-9) will square off with rising British talent Tom Aspinall (11-2) in a five-round affair. Additionally, MMA Latinoamerica Fight Club broke the news that Paddy Pimblett (17-3) will be returning to the Octagon as well on this fight card, but against Rodrigo Vargas (12-4) and not the recently announced Jared Gordon.

Volkov will be aiming to make it two in a row at the expense of Manchester’s Aspinall, as he pulled off a unanimous decision win over Marcin Tybura in October 2021 to get back in the win column. Before the Tybura performance, “Drago” fell short to future interim titleholder Ciryl Gane in a five-round verdict that put an end to a win streak with knockouts of Walt Harris and Alistair Overeem. Because his last victory came on the scorecards, the Russian’s career finish rate dropped just below 75%.

Getting his first headlining opportunity is Aspinall, who will surge into this top-10 clash with a seven-fight finish streak on his ledger. The Cage Warriors Fighting Championship export made it to the UFC in 2020, where he promptly demolished Jake Collier in 45 seconds. Subsequent drubbings of Alan Baudot, Andrei Arlovski and Sergey Spivak thrust him into this home country headliner. As a pro, Aspinall has never recorded a win that took longer than 6:09 to achieve.

The polarizing Pimblett will be stepping into the Octagon for the second time when he meets Vargas. “The Baddy” made his debut in September 2021, where he rebounded from a first few tough minutes to knock Luigi Vendramini unconscious with a ferocious flurry of fists. Before joining the UFC, Pimblett captured the CW featherweight strap, and he successfully defended it once against Julian Erosa before surrendering it in 2017 and prompting a move up to 155 pounds.

After three tries, Vargas earned his first triumph in the UFC cage in April 2021 when he topped Zhu Rong by decision. “Kazula” put an end to a two-fight skid that included a decision setback to Alex da Silva Coelho as well as a disqualification against Brok Weaver when the Mexican fighter threw an illegal knee that ended the match. A Combate Global vet before joining the ranks of the UFC, the 36-year-old Vargas posts a high finish rate of 83%.

UFC Fight Night 204 goes down inside the O2 Arena in London on March 19, in the organization’s first trip to Europe since UFC Fight Night 163 in 2019 in Moscow. Other key matchups on the card include a rescheduled heavyweight tilt between Shamil Abdurakhimov and Sergei Pavlovich, in which Pavlovich replaces the current headliner Aspinall. Highly touted prospect Muhammad Mokaev will also make his promotional debut against Cody Durden in a match he called for because of Durden’s incendiary post-fight comments about his former opponent.