The British star has not fought in nearly a year as he continues to wait for a unification showdown with the undisputed heavyweight champion, Jon Jones
Tom Aspinall has candidly confessed that the delay in his fight with Jon Jones has been more mentally challenging than the most difficult period in his career.
The British star claimed the interim title against Sergei Pavlovich back in 2023. In an unexpected move to stay active, the Wigan warrior defended the belt against Curtis Blaydes in Manchester last July. After a brutal 60-second knockout victory over the American, Aspinall has become increasingly frustrated with the lack of updates about his next fight.
It’s been nearly a year since Aspinall’s last fight, and it doesn’t appear that fans will be hearing any news about his next dust-up anytime soon. Jones clinched the heavyweight title back in 2023 against Ciryl Gane. A severe shoulder injury sustained during training meant that ‘Bones’ has only managed to defend his title once – a knockout win over Stipe Miocic last November.
In a recent chat with UFC legend Demetrious Johnson, Aspinall revealed that the ongoing delays have been harder on him mentally than when he experienced a career-threatening injury. Back in 2022, during the Brit’s first encounter with Blaydes, the fight ended tragically just seconds into the clash when Aspinall suffered a brutal knee injury – which kept him out of action for over a year.
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The 32-year-old has revealed the mental toll of being sidelined for so long, saying: «It was obviously devastating to get injured in front of everybody and stuff. But anyway, it was a tough time for me. Came back, took me a year with the rehab… So it was a tough couple of months mentally.
«But I always had a little goal to work towards. Now, I’ve been almost a year inactive with no prospect of anything apart from wait. So now is actually a little bit more of a tricky time for me mentally than it was then. I constantly had little goals to work towards, whereas now it’s like, ‘Right, just be ready and we’ll let you know’, it’s kind of difficult mentally.»
Meanwhile, American fighter Jones is wrestling with his thoughts regarding his UFC future and a potential bout with the Brit. The MMA community was sent into frenzy on Tuesday when Jones, after speaking to his friend Kamil Gadzhiev, announced he is ‘done’ following the Russian promoter’s suggestion that he could continue fighting for another decade.
However, shortly after this revelation, Jones confused fans with a cryptic message on his Instagram story. He uploaded a video showing one dog overpowering another, captioned: «Have you ever seen a dog correct another dog like this?» Below the clip, the heavyweight champ added: «What I feel like returning to the UFC after some much-needed downtime.»
