It was 'mission accomplished' for Atherton’s Tom Aspinall, who defeated Sergei Pavlovich with an impressive first-round knockout to win the UFC interim heavyweight championship in Madison Square Garden in New York.

Having taken the title fight on just 17 days’ notice, all eyes were on Aspinall when he stepped into the octagon looking to become Britain’s third-ever UFC champion. As he walked out to the fitting ‘Englishman in New York’ by Sting draped in an English flag, Aspinall looked excited and ready to get his chance at making history.

Meanwhile, his opponent Pavlovich looked to be carved from stone as he made his walk to the octagon, showing no emotion whatsoever, adding to the terrifying aura that surrounds the Russian. Once the pair entered the octagon there was nothing but respect with the two embracing as they met in the centre shortly before the fight got underway.

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But, once the referee started the fight, the time for respect was over as there was a UFC title on the line. In the build-up to the fight, there was a lot of discussion around Pavlovich’s power, and that seemed to be displayed early in the first round.

The Russian – who has six first-round knockouts in the UFC – caught Aspinall with a left hook, clearly stunning him and no doubt worrying his supporters across the world. But Aspinall was not deterred and just 30 seconds later hit Pavlovich with two rapid left-right combinations, knocking him out and winning the UFC interim championship.

The Brit immediately collapsed to the canvas in tears and appeared overwhelmed with emotion as UFC president Dana White wrapped the championship belt around him. "If you ever get the chance to do something and you're scared to do it, you should just do it," Aspinall said.

He added: "He's a scary guy. I've never been so scared in my life, but I have power too and I believed in myself." Aspinall then dedicated his victory to his dad Andy – who he describes as his “secret weapon” - his head coach since he was just eight years old

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

As he left the octagon, Aspinall embraced former champion and close friend Michael Bisping, who has been outspoken in his support of the Atherton man, believing he will retire as the greatest heavyweight of all time. Bisping – the first ever UFC British champion – also wrote history as, in an almost identical situation to Aspinall, he accepted a middleweight title fight on 17 days’ notice and went on to win it with a knockout in the first round.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Aspinall described finally winning the UFC heavyweight championship as “mission accomplished” after deciding to push for the championship following a potentially career-ending knee injury last July. The 30-year-old also revealed that just days after accepting the short-notice title fight, he suffered a back injury, making his victory even more impressive.

He said: “It was really bad, I couldn’t walk for two or three days so my training camp has literally been next to zero.”

Aspinall’s win adds another to his highlight reel of first-round finishes and displays why he has the shortest average fight time in UFC history. Elsewhere on the card in the light-heavyweight main event, Alex Pereira defeated former champion Jiří Procházka via knockout in the second round to become the ninth two-weight UFC champion.