The world of mixed martial arts is filled with stories of gruesome injuries and phenomenal comebacks. One such name is Tom Aspinall. The UFC interim heavyweight champion faced great troubles with the injury that he got while fighting Curtis Blaydes. Being unable to walk and fight is, without a doubt, the ultimate nightmare for a fighter. And Aspinall had to go through that to return with his focus on nothing but winning.

During the time ‘Honey Badger’ had to take to recover and bounce back into action, he even had thoughts of opting for an early retirement from MMA. This was proof enough to depict how devastated he was with it, don’t you think? But what exactly happened to the Englishman? Let’s find out!

What happened to Tom Aspinall’s knee?

Back when Blaydes and Aspinall met each other on the Octagon for the first time in 2022, they had the spot for the number one contender in focus. However, panic struck the entire arena when the clock hit 15 seconds. That was when ‘Honey Badger’ fell to the ground while stepping away from Blaydes. He curled up his right leg and cried out in pain. Soon after, the ringside physicians rushed to the Octagon and revealed that the damage was significant enough for Aspinall to call it quits.

Aspinall had torn his medial collateral ligament and meniscus, along with some damage to the anterior cruciate ligament. No wonder he thought of taking retirement from the realm of MMA. In a recent interview with ‘Mainevent’, the interim heavyweight champion revealed the difficulty he had to go through while dealing with his injury. 

Aspinall said, “With great difficulty, mate, to be honest. It was tough. I just decided, you know. I still remember the moment where I was sat, I was sat there. And to be honest, before, before I fought Blaydes the first time, I wasn’t really all in on MMA. I wasn’t as focused as I should have been, I wasn’t training properly. You know, I was doing a lot of stuff wrong. And I really decided that I’m either gonna retire from the sport, or I’m going absolutely all in and be 100% focused on what I’m doing. And I obviously decided to go all in.” 

This was the only decision that the heavyweight fighter had to make to return and dominate the Octagon once again. But is it going to be enough? As Aspinall gets ready to fight Blaydes once again, the UFC world, even if excited about the rematch, has cast some doubts on the matchup. 

Is Tom Aspinall making a mistake going against Curtis Blaydes?

While most of the fight fans have their entropy heightened for the matchup between Aspinall and Blaydes, Chael Sonnen didn’t seem to think so. ‘The American Gangster’, in an interview with Tim Welch on his ‘Red Hawk Recap’ podcast, revealed his opinion. He said, “Possibly a big mistake for everybody involved. Possibly a mistake for booking this match.” But why did he say so? 

It was all because of the past that the two fighters share, and the troubles that the interim HW champ had to go through following the match at O2 Arena, London. Sonnen put the emphasis that ‘Razor’ had already won a fight against Aspinall. Even though it was because of an injury, it was a victory nonetheless. And that experience has the potential to play a major role in defeating the ‘Honey Badger’ once again. 

It’s noteworthy that Aspinall is not someone who would go down as easily this time. He has a lot to prove and if he desires to fight for the championship belt; he has no option but to defeat Blaydes at UFC 304. What are your thoughts on the heavyweight’s injury? Is Aspinall fit enough to fight Blaydes? Let us know what you think in the comments below.