Tom Aspinall is no stranger to playing the waiting game.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) has held the UFC interim heavyweight title for over 18 months, patiently awaiting his chance to face Jon Jones in a title unification bout.
Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) spent a year on the sidelines recovering from a torn pectoral muscle sustained in late 2023. When he finally returned to the Octagon a year later, “Bones” opted to move forward with his originally scheduled fight against former champion Stipe Miocic rather than face Aspinall, who had claimed the interim belt by defeating Sergei Pavlovich during Jones’ absence.
Aspinall has been chasing a big-money fight with the former light heavyweight champion ever since. He even defended his interim title with a knockout victory over Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in mid-2024.
While UFC President Dana White has repeatedly stated that a bout agreement between Jones and Aspinall is close to being finalized, fans are still waiting for an official announcement.
For Aspinall, this stretch of inactivity isn’t unfamiliar. The lone loss of his professional career came in July 2022, when he suffered a serious knee injury just 15 seconds into his first fight against Blaydes at UFC London.
That setback led to a year-long layoff, something Aspinall reflected on this week during an interview with former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson on his podcast.
“I had the big injury and then I was at a bit of a crossroads really, like I’d made a little bit of money then, I’d made enough to buy a house and stuff, and then it was like, do I want to carry on with this thing?” Aspinall said. “It was obviously devastating to get injured in front of everybody and stuff. But anyway, it was a tough time for me. Came back, took me a year with the rehab with the knee and everything… the physiotherapy and all that kind of stuff. So it was a tough couple of months mentally, but the once I started working towards getting back, I’d see the doctor, I’d see the physio, they’d be like, ‘In two weeks, this is what I want you doing in the gym. I want you squatting down to 90 degrees. I want you to be able to jump on this box. I want you to be able to run a mile and then you can start boxing, you can do this, that.’ I always had a little goal to work towards.
“So after a couple of months of being sat on the couch, as soon as I could get in the gym and start working towards different things, it was great and I felt good, I was like, ‘I definitely want to come back. Now I’m going to go, I don’t have any injuries, I’m going to win the heavyweight championship, I’m going to become this legend, I’m going to knock everybody out’ and all that stuff, I felt great about it. And I was on my recovery path to getting back.”
“It’s Tough Sometimes”: Aspinall Details Mental Strain While Waiting for Jones
While Aspinall made a full recovery and hasn’t dealt with any injuries since, he admits that this current layoff—waiting for Jon Jones to sign a bout agreement—has been far more difficult to endure than the time he spent recovering from his knee injury.
“Now, I’ve been almost a year inactive with no prospects of anything apart from wait,” Aspinall said. “So now it’s actually a bit more of a tricky time for me mentally than it was then. Even people then were like, ‘Are you OK? How are you dealing with coming back?’ and stuff like that. I was like, yeah, I’m good. I’ve got this to look forward to, the doctor said I’ve got to do this in two weeks or in two months I can start grappling. I constantly had little goals to work towards. Whereas now it’s just like, ‘Just be ready and we’ll just let you know.’
“It’s kind of difficult mentally, but this is the fight against Jon Jones. The fight is another thing, this is the tricky bit where I really have to stay switched on, stay motivated, and I’m trying my best. It’s tough sometimes.”
