Five wins to open his UFC career had Tom Aspinall on course for a title shot.
Then everything changed for the heavyweight MMA fighter 13 seconds into his clash with American Curtis Blaydes in 2022 in a fight which headlined a sold-out show at the O2 Arena in London.
A kick from Aspinall connected with Blaydes’ leg and the British fighter dropped to the canvas, clutching his knee in pain, with the fight ending prematurely.
Blaydes looked confused. Aspinall was in pain. The magnitude of the situation was evident.
Aspinall had torn his medial collateral ligament, his meniscus and suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage. He underwent immediate surgery and missed a year of action, which he says was “one of the lowest points of my life.”
“That sounds pretty superficial, but I give everything to fighting really,” the 31-year-old told CNN Sport. “At the time, it was awful.”
“A lot of people get injured in a gym with 10 people there. I got injured with 25,000 home fans screaming my name and millions watching around the world. It’s a big blow to the ego.”
After returning from injury, Aspinall was victorious in his comeback bout before claiming the interim UFC heavyweight championship title in his most recent fight and will defend it for the first time in a rematch against Blaydes on Saturday.
“This is actually the first time in my career, amateur or professional, that I’ve had a rematch. I’m looking forward to showing Curtis what this version of Tom is.”
‘I can do this’
As a youngster, Aspinall spent time sampling various combat disciplines – he trained in jujitsu, submission wrestling, Olympic wrestling, boxing, Thai boxing and kickboxing – before eventually settling on one which incorporates different facets into one discipline: mixed martial arts.
“As soon as I realized that people are like doing this full time, getting paid for and not working a regular job, I was like: ‘Well, I want to get paid for what I like doing.’”
He rose up the ranks through various different MMA organizations, before eventually signing with UFC in 2020.
The Manchester native won his first five bouts, becoming a must-watch competitor, given his knack of ending his fights early; four of them ended 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 bouts on averaging lasting just two minutes and 10 seconds.
The UFC is seen as the pinnacle of MMA and therefore comes with increased attention, but Aspinall was unfazed.
“I realized: ‘Oh, it’s just the same. Just the same in the UFC as anywhere 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 of beating him,”’ said Aspinall.
“Once I got a few wins in the UFC, I was like: ‘Oh, I can do this. Like, I can really be No. 1 in the world and be one of the best of all time of this.’”
A time for growth
During his time on the sideline with his injury, Aspinall reflected on his preparation before a bout, whether that be training, or as he describes it, “all the stuff that was dragging me down a little bit” as he plotted how he might become the heavyweight champion.
“It’s really selfish in a way. … there’s a lot of friends I’ve cut off,” he said. “But you have to do that to. And you’ll always get people saying: ‘Oh, he’s forgot about this. He’s cut me off. He thinks he’s better than us.’
“As ruthless as it sounds and as pigheaded as that sounds, sometimes you do have to believe that you’re better than people to get yourself to the next level. But to be elite at anything, you really have to believe: ‘Everyone around me has 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.
It vaulted Aspinall to near the top of the heavyweight rankings and possibly in contention for a title shot as current champion Jon Jones was then scheduled to fight former two-time champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023.
But, just two weeks prior to that event, Jones was ruled out through a pectoral injury and Aspinall was drafted in to face Sergei Pavlovich for the interim heavyweight title.
Fighters usually have months to prepare for upcoming bouts, but Aspinall had just 14 days to get ready for the fight in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
“That was absolutely wild,” said Aspinall. “Not something that I’d recommend, especially, like even small stuff like the time difference. I didn’t have a visa until the day before I left. I didn’t have a training camp barely at all. Like I sparred twice for that fight. Two sparring sessions isn’t significant for a world title fight.”
Despite the short notice, Aspinall knocked out Pavlovich in the second round, dropping to the canvas in disbelief afterwards, as well as dedicating the victory to his father who trains him.
“I pulled it off in literally the worst circumstances I could have possibly had. I flew across the world and won a world title,” said Aspinall, who has drawn 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 swifter striking,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “What’s next for a guy like this? His name is Jon Jones.”
‘Ring the bell’
Arguably one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time, Jones is the reigning heavyweight champion but has not fought since March 2023 and, according to Aspinall, doesn’t look like he’ll do so anytime soon.
“Is Jon Jones even fighting? Because there’s a lot of talk on Twitter, on X, but I saw him recently, the guy has not seen a gym for I don’t know how long. He’s not in shape and he doesn’t have a fight booked.”
CNN has reached out to Jones’ representatives for comment.
Aspinall has accused Jones of “holding up” the heavyweight division, and despite a unification fight between Aspinall and Jones being what fans want, it doesn’t look likely anytime soon.
His rematch against Blaydes at UFC 304 is the first defense he’s had of his title belt, and it will come on a special evening for Aspinall as it will be held in his home city of Manchester on a card full of bouts involving fellow British fighters.
Aspinall’s fight with Blaydes is the co-main event for UFC 304, with Leon Edward’s welterweight title defense against Belal Muhammad the other headliner.
The main events aren’t scheduled to start until after 3 a.m. local time, with Aspinall admitting he may not fight until 5 a.m. He says that he has had to “switch my body clock up” to prepare for it.
In the moments ahead of his own fight, Aspinall will be thinking the same thing he does every fight: “Ring the bell.”
“The fight day, generally, is the longest day of your life,” he explains, detailing the often-arduous steps he takes to prepare ahead of a bout.
“And generally, I’m just thinking: ‘Ring the bell and let these emotions be over.’ Because as soon as you like swap leather, that’s it. It’s gone. You’re just in flow then. That’s the part that I like.”
Tom Aspinall takes on Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 on July 27 at the Co-op Arena in Manchester. It will be live on TNT Sports 1, which is available through Discovery+ and across all major TV platforms.