Tom Aspinall returns to the Octagon for the first time in 12 months when he headlines UFC Fight Night in London against Marcin Tybura on Saturday, July 22.

Tom Aspinall v Marcin Tybura UFC Fight Night Tips & Predictions

British fighter Tom Aspinall was last in the Octagon on July 23 when he suffered a horrendous knee injury just 15 seconds into his clash against Curtis Blaydes at The O2 Arena.

He has spent the last 12 months getting ready and going through intense rehab and he hopes a strong performance will get him noticed and allow him to move up the rankings from number five in the heavyweight division.

I need to get something off my chest. For UFC Fight Night, Aspinall will be labelled as the ‘home town hero’ and fighting in front of his neighbours.

No, he won’t.

Aspinall is not from London, in fact he lives over 200 miles away. Yes, promote him as the English fighter on home soil, but don’t try and say he is from London.

Aspinall is a northern as they come. The Atherton-born fighter has links in Salford, Bolton, Leigh and Wigan – he is not from the south. It shouldn’t bother me this much, but it does.

The fifth-ranked heavyweight will square off against 10^th-ranked Marcin Tybura from Poland.

Tybura is very experienced. He has a professional record of 31 fights, 24 victories and seven defeats. He has been in the Octagon against the likes of Alexander Volkov, Sergey Spivak and Derrick Lewis, so the occasion will not get to him.

I do think Aspinall will teach him a lesson and win this by knockout in the second round to lift the roof off the O2 Arena.