The light-heavyweight star has been getting some crucial tips from the heavyweight champion as he prepares to make his return to action later this evening
Modestas Bukauskas opens up on his relationship with Tom Aspinall ahead of his return to the cage(Image: Zuffa LLC)
As Modestas Bukauskas attempts to reach the upper echelons of the shark-infested light-heavyweight division, the ‘Baltic Gladiator’ has been honing in on his skills with the most feared man on the planet.
Very few have the bottle to step in the cage and trade leather with undisputed heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, but Bukauskas went way out of his comfort zone to become a better fighter, showing just how seriously he is taking his second chance at MMA’s top promotion. The light-heavyweight star is due to make his first appearance since knocking out Paul Craig later this evening at UFC 324.
The 31-year-old will take on division danger man Nikita Krylov – knowing a win in Sin City will all but certainly guarantee him a crack at some of the big boys at light-heavyweight. Bukauskas is a changed man from the one we were familiar with during his first stint under the UFC banner. After departing in 2021 with a record of 1-3, the ‘Baltic Gladiator’ went back to the regional scene, and it was not long before he was re-signed.
This time, though, he is not here to make up the numbers, and is very much itching to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the top contenders at 205lb. And it’s thanks to the help of Aspinall that he has only continued to grow. “Well, he’s honestly one of the biggest inspirations for me. I mean, being able to train alongside the heavyweight champion of the world … it’s an absolute honour and an absolute pleasure to be able to do that,” he revealed to Mirror Sport.
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“For him and his team to take me in with open arms… to want to see me develop, to want to see me progress in my career, it’s been absolutely amazing. I’ve learned so many lessons from him, just the way that he conducts himself inside and outside of the Octagon. You know, the way that he conducts his training camp, how professional he is, you know, he literally tries to do every little thing to make him as good as he can and that’s that’s definitely one thing that I’ve learned.
“And even him telling me about progressions that he’s had in his career and things that he’s changed and done differently and, you know, I’ve also implemented that in my in my own game. And just seeing how mentally strong he is, how happy he is during training, like he he just really enjoys it, he just really loves fighting. So, to be in the presence of uh such an amazing athlete and such an amazing person, you know, with him and his dad and his whole team, like the vibes in the gym are absolutely amazing, like the camaraderie and stuff like that.
“You really couldn’t ask for anything better. Like it was it was honestly a blessing, and I think it was a it was a good job me just like, out of the blue, me and my dad we were just saying, ‘well, we need to train with like heavier guys.’ And we saw a load of pictures with Tom training with like a big group of, like, pretty much land of the giants… me being the pip-squeak of the group. And I just messaged him one day and then straight away he responded and then that was it. So it was absolutely amazing. I’m I’m so grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to do that and long may it continue.”
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Aspinall is currently in the middle of recovering from a nasty eye injury he sustained in his heavyweight title defence against rival Ciryl Gane back in October. The Brit suffered was diagnosed with “significant traumatic bilateral Brown’s syndrome” and required two surgeries on his eye, but has not yet been cleared to train as he targets an immediate rematch with ‘Bon Gamin’ at some point this year. As well as elaborating further on their friendship, Buakaskas believes his training partner is more motivated than ever to put a rubber stamp on his rivalry with the Frenchman and silence his naysayers once and for all.
“Obviously, he’s having to recover from a a really nasty eye injury. He’s still having a lot of a lot of issues with that, which I think a lot of people don’t understand how bad the situation really is for him. So, obviously I feel for him, but I know at the same time he’s going to be highly motivated to come back stronger and and just show everyone that like, ‘listen, I am the heavyweight champion of the world for a reason,'” he said.
“And I think it just gives him an extra log to his fire for when he does come back. So, I’ll be looking to looking forward to seeing him obviously after the fight and stuff like that, but like I say, he’s an amazing training partner but also an amazing friend. So, it’s great that we’ve we’ve created such an amazing connection and we just we just keep things moving, keep things moving. The thing that he always tells me is just to just to relax… just to not put so much pressure on myself and to go out there and enjoy it.
“And all the lessons that he’s taught me, all the things that I’ve seen about how like I said, the way that he does his training and and how he lives his life, I take those take those lessons on full swing and I implement it into my own life and clearly it’s working. So, I’m extremely grateful to to be in the presence of a guy like that.”
Modestas Bukauskas takes on Nikita Krylov at UFC 324: Gaethje vs Pimblett live at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will be live on T NT Box Office from 12am GMT on Sunday and is available for £19.99.
