If you were familiar with Steven Asplund’s game before he offered to suck Dana White’s toes, then you know that his game is all about pace. Once close to 500 pounds, the cardio that got him to the heavyweight division is his signature weapon on the regional stage. That pace and stamina earned him a short-notice opportunity in this year’s Contender Series, and his original plan was to use that in the fight.
“That was the plan: pick this motherfucker apart and tag them. Make them bleed, get them frustrated and then find the finish in the second round,” he said. “But I just had this feeling in my heart and I was like, I went in there and just picked up the pace, hit him fast and hard to let them know, like, ‘Hey, big man, you haven’t been hit like that before,’ and just show them what’s going on.”
As those thoughts crept into the back of his mind, he began to think about speaking them out. Instead, he turned to his coach and searched for a reminder of what to do. However, Invicta and PFL veteran Kaitlin “The Striking Viking” Young would not provide the answer he expected, but instead provide the answer he needed.
“I mean, so we changed the game plan right before we went there,” Asplund explained. “I asked Kaitlin [Young] right before we walked away, like literally right before I said how do we fight one last time? What do you want from me? And she said, ‘Honestly, you win tonight any way you want.’
To be on the safe side, he asked her to clarify again whether he wanted to throw his game plan to the wind.
“I said, ‘Swear to God?’ She said, “I swear to God,” he recalled of the conversation. “I thought, OK, well, I’m going to turn it into a gunfight… She slapped me on the butt and told me to go out there and do what we do, and we fucking did it.”
After knocking out Anthony Guarascio in just 16 seconds and then cutting one of the most famous promos in Dana White’s Contender Series history, Asplund secured the contract. Now he looks to make a similar statement in his UFC debut. He fights AJ Frye as part of the ESPN+ prelims of UFC Vegas 112. That fight card kicks off this Saturday at 7:00 PM EST.
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