Tom Aspinall defended his interim title against Curtis Blaydes and once again cemented his name at the top of the UFC heavyweight division. Aspinall is the face of a new breed of heavyweight MMA stars. However, this day did not come that easily and there were a lot of struggles behind this success. Believe it or not,  the Wigan warrior who has always redeemed himself inside the Octagon was once even ready to quit the sport!  He did not have such an easy life as some of the fighters might have had and before even fighting inside the cage he had to fight with life.

‘Honey Badger’ recalled the same recently and showed his humble persona, which is still present even after he has been in the limelight. Aspinall narrated his struggles and his immense love for combat sports.

Tom Aspinall relives days of struggle before UFC glory

During his talk on Believe You Me Live and Unleashed, the champ spoke with Michael Bisping and Anthony Smith about his journey so far. On top of that, he also explained his emotions regarding what was happening with Jon Jones. When he was speaking about his love for fighting in general, he also narrated the financial hardships that he had to go through and said , “I didn’t have no money”. He said, “What I mean ultimately I really unlike a lot of um guys at the top the real top of the division; like I enjoy fighting like. I love the process of training getting ready for it the mental side of it I love it.”

Even after having a desperate need for financial security, he still gave priority to the love and appreciation he had for combat sports. Maybe this is why Aspinall was so successful. He also gushed about how amazing it was to not worry about finances. The 31-year-old sounded relieved, “Because for so long mate for so long when I was like on the come up to us just to get to the gym like I had to worry about how am I going to like put fuel in my car to drive to the gym for a long time for a long time I had to do that.”

On top of that, he explained how he had three kids by the time he was 25 and had to look after his health because he was an athlete and these things cost a lot. “…how am I going to afford to buy a protein shake and get a massage and do like you know do all the stuff that comes with uh being a professional athlete and also I had three like by the time I was 25 I had three kids. I didn’t have no money… no money at all zero zero.”

However, the man who sometimes had only 20 pounds to his name, is a million-dollar fighter now. He sometimes even had to take help from his dad Andy who introduced him to combat sports.

Aspinall cited the main reason for this to be that many HW fighters pulled out of a fight last minute and this caused problems for him. Thankfully money issues are a thing of the past now and yet, he still believes in saving rather than using it to purchase things. He had once said before, “I know what it’s like to have next to no money. I know both sides of the spectrum. There were loads of times that I was really scared. But fear, fear makes you sharp. Fear makes you do things that you can’t usually do.“ Now since the money is secured for him and his family, he is concentrating on his big fight with Jon Jones.

Aspinall wants to fight Jon Jones next

Tom Aspinall is not a big fan of the matchup between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic and wants to be the opponent for Jones instead. He recently talked about the matchup while also spilling some secrets about Jon Jones. He was really upset with Dana White favoring Miocic vs. Jones and even called the 2 time champion Joe Biden citing that he is well past his prime time. ‘Honey Badger’ told Michael Bisping on the atter’s YouTube channel, “Why’re you giving a guy [a title shot], who’s 42 [or] however old he is?” 

They do not have any bad blood but Aspinall thinks that the fighter/firefighter has not earned his title shot. He also did not leave Jones out of the mix and spoke about who was the real GOAT of the HW rankings. “I look up to Stipe more because… if there’s anything about drug tests going on, that’s a bit of an asterisk next to your name if there’s a drug test going on,” Tom Aspinall further stated. 

He has respect for both fighters but favors Miocic more. Aspinall might be humble but he does not stop from calling out fighters and asking for his deserved matchups. What do you think about Aspinall’s claim? Will he fight Jones?