UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is set to make his first title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321, but the champ revealed that wouldn’t have been the case if things had gone differently.
Before his current UFC success, Aspinall’s swift ascent came to a screeching halt when he suffered a major leg injury against Curtis Blaydes in July 2022. Just 15 seconds into the fight, Aspinall snapped his leg and was sidelined for a full year before resuming his career. He disclosed that the injury marked a major turning point in his life and made him consider leaving MMA.
In an interview with TNT Sports, Aspinall revealed that he battled mental health struggles during this period and wrestled with depressing thoughts.
“There were long, drawn-out bouts of feeling in a really dark place,” Aspinall said. “To be honest, before the injury, I was half in the sport and half out. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to carry on.
“ I was doing things I shouldn’t have been doing outside the gym, my recovery was non-existent, the training was in a bad situation,” Aspinall explained. “There were a lot of things that should’ve been changed.”
Luckily, Aspinall changed his ways and became one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. A win over Gane could secure him a spot at the White House next year, and he might finally get his long-awaited shot at Jon Jones in the octagon who has come out of retirement.
