Tom Aspinall Wanted To ‘Quit’ Following His Serious Knee Injury
In today’s MMA news, Tom Aspinall has recalled how he considered quitting MMA following his knee injury against Curtis Blaydes.
According to reports, Aspinall squared off against Blaydes in 2022 as a win could have potentially given him a shot at the world title moving forward.
However, things did not go to plan as Aspinall injured his knee just 15 seconds into the first round. Thereafter, the MMA fighter was put on a stretcher, as there were serious concerns over the severity of the injury.
And given that was the first loss that Aspinall had suffered in the UFC, the fighter did consider calling it quits at one point.
Aspinall On His Injury
“[It was] depressing, horrendous, absolutely horrendous. Again, made me want to quit the sport for a little while. For a couple of days, I didn’t want to carry on. I fell out with everything and everyone for a little. It’s just not very nice mate, it’s just horrendous, lay on the floor on your back in front of 22,000 of your own fans with a knee that is numb, locked up, being unable to move it, and knowing that, well I was supposed to go away.
“I was supposed to go see family in Poland for like a month, I was going to do a little tour of Poland, see family and friends and everything. Misses and the kids were already out there, had to cancel that. Had to go down to London, get surgery, and recover for a year. It was not ideal,” Aspinall
Nevertheless, Aspinall has bounced back since then. The Brit made his return to the cage against Marcin Tybura. Naturally, there was a lot of scrutiny on the fighter’s knee, as to whether it could hold up.
But rather than be taken aback by the challenge that was coming his way, Aspinall excelled to stop his opponent in the first round.
In the aftermath, Aspinall targeted a fight with Jon Jones by calling out the current UFC heavyweight champion. Although that may have been the case, nothing materialised in that regard.
And since then, Jones has suffered a big injury which ruled him out of his title fight with Stipe Miocic. The American suffered an injury to his pectoral muscle, which will keep him out until 2024 following some surgery.
But once Jones recovers, Aspinall will no doubt be targeting that bout given his prior comments.
Aspinall On Jones
“I think I match up well. It’s a dream fight of mine, and I think I’m young and I’m fresh. I don’t have loads of [mileage in my career], and I’m big. I can do everything well, I’m fast, I’m strong, I’m heavy — which isn’t like a lot of his opponents in the past.I just feel like I bring something different to him, I think he knows that as well — or he should know moving forward. Jon Jones knows I exist, woo-hoo! That’s a win in itself. I’m buzzing with that,” Aspinall
Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingblitz.
