ATHERTON fighter Tom Aspinall needed little over a minute to become the UFC interim heavyweight champion, despite having just two weeks to get ready for his bout with Sergei Pavlovich.

The 30-year-old knocked out his Russian opponent in just 69 seconds with a punishing series of blows at UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden.

Aspinall, who becomes just the third Briton to become UFC world champion, only got the call-up for the fight on October 25 after defending champion Jon Jones suffered a serious injury and pulled out of his contest against Stipe Miocic.

Aspinall said on TNT Sports: "It has been a crazy two and a half weeks.

"I want to tell everyone at home, If you ever get the chance to do something and you're scared to do it, you should just do it.

"He's a scary guy. I've never been so scared in my life but I have power too and I believed in myself.

"I've worked so hard over the years and no one has worked harder than my father so this belt is dedicated to him.

"I was struggling with the distance a little bit but we got there in the end."