UFC fighters like Tom Aspinall and Charles Oliveira are heroes in their hometowns. So much so that an artist decided to dedicate a massive mural to the UFC interim heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall at his hometown. Aspinall recently took the UFC crew on a tour ahead of his upcoming showdown with Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304.
Tom Aspinall took the UFC Embedded team on a tour around his hometown of Atherton in Wigan. They went to a massive painting of ‘Honey Badger’ dressed like a gladiator in the Colosseum with his arms out in a front double bicep pose. While the entire thing was grand and detailed, the interim champion had one complaint.
Why are my arms so small? I thought my arms were bigger than that in real life. I thought I had quite decent arms.
Tom Aspinall on UFC 304 Embedded
While inspecting his “small arms” the talk turned to his upcoming fight with Curtis Blaydes. Aspinall and Blaydes previously clashed at UFC Fight Night 208. The headliner fight only lasted fifteen seconds, because Aspinall incurred a knee injury thus resulting in a TKO loss.
In a previous interview with talkSPORT, Aspinall said he was expecting a massive challenge. Tom Aspinall said his former rival is a “really, really good opponent” and that he was preparing himself for it. They will fight their rematch at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester.
Charles Oliveira’s mural in Sao Paulo when he became UFC champion
Charles Oliveira became the UFC lightweight champion in 2021. He beat Michael Chandler at UFC 262 at the Toyota Centre in Houston, Texas. Brazilian artist, Wilis Cavalcante immortalized ‘De Bronx’ with spray paint on a wall of Oliveira’s hometown Guaruja.
Charles Oliveira with his mural (Image via X)The mural is 1,070-foot in size and Cavalcante reportedly spent 24 hours creating the entire piece. The artist always admired Oliveira and when he won the title, he thought it was a perfect time to commemorate the Brazilian UFC star. Cavalcante did not even know Oliveira’s fight was coming up when he first started it.
Later when he woke up on Sunday, Oliveira had already grabbed the title and Cavalcante went back to the wall to finish the job. ‘De Bronx’ received a hero’s welcome in Sao Polo. The locals hopped on a fire bus to parade the entire town and videos of the celebration went viral on social media.
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