Tom Aspinall opens up on ‘absolutely crazy’ obstacles he overcame before UFC 295 interim title win, as British star explains details of back injury that almost forced him to pull out
- Tom Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovich with incredible finish at UFC 295
- British superstar revealed afterwards that injury nearly ruined his dream
- Eddie Hearn on his greatest-ever boxing venue: Listen here to The Hook
Tom Aspinall has revealed how close a freak back injury came to derailing his UFC 295 dream.
The British superstar claimed the interim heavyweight title by knocking out fearsome Russian Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event of UFC 295 in New York on Saturday.
But 10 days before his historic victory, a back injury meant he could not train and event made him consider pulling out.
‘I just wanted to get one good spar under my belt before we basically leave and travel to the US,’ he told the MMA Hour.
‘This was in the fourth round of sparring. Never experienced anything like it before.
Tom Aspinall produced a stunning KO to defeat Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295
Aspinall revealed he almost had to pull out of the fight having injured himself in training
‘I just had a crazy back spasm, and my back just seized up. Nothing really even happened, and my back just stiffened up really badly.
‘I was basically unable to work out from that point onward. ‘It did get a little better, and luckily, my team was amazing and just shifted everything around so I could get some really good treatment,’ he said. ‘For a couple of days there, I just like, ‘s***, what am I going to do?’
‘I’ve accepted the fight, the world knows about the fight now, and I can’t move,’ he said.
‘We got stuff working, but seriously, nearly the worst-case scenario out there. No training camp, and then the small training camp that we did within the two weeks, I couldn’t really participate in most of the stuff I was doing, anyway.
‘So yeah, it was wild. It was absolutely crazy. I didn’t have a visa. I had to do a million phones with the visa thing, the travel, and go to London a couple of times, which is the opposite side of the country from where I live. So it was absolutely crazy.
‘It was just some freak thing that went on for a week,’ he explained.
‘It was really, really weird. It’s not like an ongoing injury. Everything’s fine. But it was just like my back seized up. A lot of anxiety over the last couple of weeks, to be honest.
‘But I’ve been doing a lot of, I don’t want to say soul-searching, I’ve been doing a lot of knowing where I’m at, and finding what I’m like as a person.
The British star’s preparation was far from ideal but he managed to get the job done
‘Ultimately, this is what draws me to this sport is, I want to find out what I’m like as a person. What is Tom like when s*** goes south?
‘And a lot of stuff has been going south for me in this buildup, a lot of obstacles are coming my way. But as I kept saying in the pre-fight interviews, I know one thing for sure, I’m definitely not going to win the fight by watching it on TV.’
It remains to be seen when Aspinall will be in action again, with Jon Jones out for the long term with an injury.
He wants to fight on the UFC 300 card next spring, in what will no doubt be packed to the gills with quality match-ups for the historic event.
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