“I was basically in a training camp for two years. “The focus is, I just want to enjoy my life,” Aspinall said. The time on the mend also allows him the space to recalibrate for the first time since making his UFC debut on Fight Island in 2020. Despite his growing profile, both locally and across the world, he credits his wife, and particularly his three young children, for keeping him grounded. Now on the mend for at least the next six months, Aspinall gets some time to settle into his recently gained status as one of the freshest faces at the top of a heavyweight title picture that felt a little stagnant just 18 months ago while Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier were in the midst of their trilogy.Īlthough the time gained came from an undesirable event, Aspinall is grateful to have a break from the everyday grind of a fight camp. Until I can do that without ending up on my back and in pain, I’m not fighting. I’m only going to consider returning once I feel I can do that. As a high-level UFC fighter, you have to take locks, twists, and turns against another massive guy. If one of my opponents had that, I’d attack it. “Before, I had a knee injury and nobody knew. “With the nature of this sport, as a top-level UFC fighter, I understand the way we think,” he said. However, the mental side of recovery matters just as much to the 29-year-old after suffering a major injury on an international stage. See What's Going On In The Heavyweight DivisionĪs far as a timeline, Aspinall said the doctors gave him an initial projection of eight months. He admitted he “underestimated how tough” the rehab process would be, describing the workouts his physio is putting him through as “the toughest workouts ever.” Despite the various “painful and uncomfortable” positions he is finding himself in through the early stages of recovery, Aspinall can already see the benefits of the operation as he is able to do certain movements he couldn’t perform throughout the last few years. To that end, Aspinall is not going to rush his return to action. “It’s a fight I thought I was going to win and that had title implications, and it turns out I was on my back after 15 seconds and not able to move my leg for six weeks.”
“The most frustrating thing is I didn’t get to have a fight I trained for,” he said. However, when he threw a low kick against Blaydes in the opening moments of their fight, the knee locked up and “everything went” as he stepped back. As he readied himself for a fight that could really throw him into title contention, he drank in the scenes, which included fans constantly singing, “Tommy Aspinall, Aspinall! Tommy Aspinall!” This is what I love.”Īspinall had the O2 Arena in the palms of his large hands as he made the walk to the Octagon. Everybody has a lot of respect for Curtis. “I felt like if it’s a card in London, I feel like I should be on it, especially if it’s the main event. “There was a lot of pressure,” Aspinall said. A second headlining bout in London was too much to pass up, though, so he powered through the way fighters do. Although he spent time rehabilitating the knee each camp, he said it would occasionally lock up on him when he knelt on the ground. Reflecting on the injury, Aspinall admits the knee is something that has bothered him since his UFC debut, but the quick wins and rise up the heavyweight ranks kept forcing him to put off a proper recovery.
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