Asplund said he has reflected on that defeat and implemented changes to his training camp to ensure that no stone was left unturned in his preparation for his next test, which comes against Brazil’s Guilherme Pat on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs Salkilld at Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
“I’ve been candid about the camp last time, and I made a ton of mistakes that I’m learning through,” he said. “I didn’t come in 20-something pounds overweight this time, and that was a huge detriment. And I don’t think that it had a impact on my performance by any means, but it had to have, you know what I mean? Like, I didn’t feel like I was hindered, but in retrospect, I probably was, and there’s no excuses. Vitor got me. He beat me.
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“But this time, I’ve invested in myself. I bought a home gym. I put a ton of dumbbells in my garage, and an Airdyne bike, and a squat rack. I never want to feel that way again. These losses feel like death to me.
“I don’t just want to win. I want to be champion someday. So, I dwelled on it, and I thought about it a lot, and I came to an understanding, and I made an agreement with myself that I am never going to ask myself if I could have done more before a fight again. This fight, I know I couldn’t have. I’ve done everything I can.”
Heavyweight MMA can be a real tightrope walk at times, with one connection in those small MMA gloves enough to turn anyone’s lights out. But while there are tangible threats on the feet and on the ground whenever two heavyweights face off in the Octagon, Asplund says he brings one immeasurable factor to the fight – his heart.
