Five wins to open his UFC career have Tom Aspinall on track for a title shot.
Then everything changed for the heavyweight MMA fighter 13 seconds into his confrontation with American Curtis Blaydes in 2022, in a fight that had a packed show at the O2 Arena, in London.
A kick from Aspinall hit Blaydes’ leg and the British fighter fell to the canvas, clutching his knee in pain, ending the fight prematurely.
Blaydes looked confused. Aspinall was in pain. The magnitude of the situation was evident.
Aspinall tore his medial collateral ligament, tore his meniscus and suffered damage to his anterior cruciate ligament. He underwent immediate surgery and missed a year of action, which he says was “one of the lowest points of my life.”
“This sounds very superficial, but I really give everything to fight,” said the 31-year-old CNN Sport. “At the time, it was horrible.”
“A lot of people get injured in a gym with 10 people there. I got hurt with 25,000 fans chanting my name and millions watching around the world. It’s a big blow to the ego.”
After returning from injury, Aspinall emerged victorious in his comeback fight before winning the interim UFC heavyweight championship title in his most recent fight and will defend it for the first time in a rematch with Blaydes on Saturday.
“In fact, it’s the first time in my career, amateur or professional, that I’ve done a rematch. I’m looking forward to showing Curtis what this version of Tom is all about.”
‘I can do this’
As a young man, Aspinall spent time experimenting with various combat disciplines – he trained in jiu-jitsu, wrestling, Olympic wrestling, boxing, Thai boxing and kickboxing – before finally settling on one that incorporates different facets into one discipline: mixed martial arts .
“As soon as I realized that people like doing this full time, getting paid and not having a regular job, I thought, ‘Well, I want to get paid for what I like to do.’”
He rose through the ranks in several MMA organizations before signing with the UFC in 2020.
The Manchester native won his first five fights, making him an unmissable competitor due to his talent for ending fights early; four of them finished in the first round and the fifth finished in the second round.
Aspinall currently holds the record for the shortest average fight time in UFC history (with a minimum of five fights), with his fights lasting an average of just two minutes and 10 seconds.
The UFC is seen as the pinnacle of MMA and therefore comes with increased attention, but Aspinall wasn’t bothered.
“I realized, ‘Oh, it’s the same thing. Just like in the UFC and everywhere else. It’s just a guy. He might be a UFC fighter, he might be a top 10 guy, you might be a former world champion, but he’s just a guy and I still have a chance to beat him,” Aspinall said.
“After I got a few wins in the UFC, I thought, ‘Oh, I can do this. Like, I can actually be No. 1 in the world and be one of the best of all time.’”
A time to grow
During his time out due to injury, Aspinall reflected on his preparation before a fight, whether it was training, or as he describes it, “all the things that were dragging me down a bit” as he planned how he could become heavyweight champion.
“It’s really selfish in a way. … There are a lot of friends I cut off,” he said. “But you have to do it. And you’ll always have people saying, ‘Oh, he forgot about that. He cut me off. He thinks he’s better than us.
“As cruel as it may seem and as stubborn as it may seem, sometimes you have to believe that you are better than other people to get to the next level. But to be elite at anything, you really have to believe, ‘Everyone around me needs to be moving in the same direction.'”
Aspinall returned to the Octagon after almost exactly a year away with a convincing 73-second victory over Marcin Tybura.
He vaulted Aspinall to near the top of the heavyweight rankings and possibly into title contention, as current champion Jon Jones was scheduled to fight former two-time champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023.
But just two weeks before that event, Jones was ruled out with a chest injury and Aspinall was called up to face Sergei Pavlovich for the interim heavyweight title.
Fighters usually have months to prepare for their upcoming fights, but Aspinall had just 14 days to prepare for the fight at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
“That was absolutely wild,” Aspinall said. “It’s not something I would recommend, especially, even little things like the time difference. I hadn’t seen it until the day before I left. I barely had a training camp. Like I fought twice in that fight. Two sparring sessions are not significant for a world title fight.”
Despite the short notice, Aspinall knocked out Pavlovich in the second round, falling to the canvas in disbelief afterwards, in addition to dedicating the victory to his father who trains him.
“I accomplished this in literally the worst circumstances I could have faced. I flew around the world and won a world title,” said Aspinall, who received praise from many of his contemporaries, including former flyweight and bantamweight world champion Henry Cejudo, who described the British fighter as having a “bag of tricks”.
“He’s like the heavyweight division’s version of [Georges] St-Pierre with even faster striking,” Cejudo said in his Youtube channel. “What’s next for a guy like that? His name is Jon Jones.”
‘Ring the bell’
Arguably one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time, Jones is the current heavyweight champion but hasn’t fought since March 2023 and, according to Aspinall, doesn’t look like he will any time soon.
“Is Jon Jones really fighting? Because there’s a lot of talk on Twitter, on X, but I saw him recently, the guy hasn’t been to the gym in I don’t know how long. He is not in shape and has no fight scheduled.”
CNN has reached out to Jones’ representatives for comment.
Aspinall has accused Jones from “holding” the heavyweight division, and although a unification fight between Aspinall and Jones is what the fans want, it doesn’t seem likely anytime soon.
The rematch against Blaydes at UFC 304 is the first defense of the belt and will take place on a special night for Aspinall, taking place in his hometown of Manchester, on a card full of fights involving other British fighters.
Aspinall’s fight with Blaydes is the co-main event of UFC 304, with Leon Edward’s welterweight title defense against Belal Muhammad the other headliner.
The main events are only scheduled to start after 3am local time, with Aspinall admitting he cannot fight before 5am. He says he had to “set my biological clock” to prepare for this.
In the moments leading up to his own fight, Aspinall will be thinking the same thing he thinks in every fight: “Ring the bell.”
“Fight day is usually the longest day of your life,” he explains, detailing the often arduous steps he takes to prepare before the fight.
“And usually, I’m just thinking, ‘Ring the bell and let these emotions go.’ Because as soon as you like changing your leather, that’s it. It’s gone. You’re just in the flow then. That’s the part I like.”
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