For Tom
Aspinall, playing the waiting game has been more mentally
taxing than recovering from a serious injury.

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Aspinall blew out his knee in the opening moments of the UFC London
headliner in July 2022, an injury that would sideline him for
approximately a year. While that was a difficult time, the
Englishman was able to return to form upon recovery, winning his
next three fights inside of a round. During that time, he captured
interim heavyweight gold and defended the belt once, avenging his
only
UFC loss against Curtis
Blaydes in the process.

Since then, Aspinall has been out for nearly another year, but this
time an injury is not the culprit. Instead, he’s been in limbo was
he awaits a date with Jon Jones. At
the moment, it’s unclear if the fight will happen at all.

Aspinall discussed the difference between coming back from an
injury and waiting on a fight during an interview with Demetrious
Johnson on the „MightyCast.“

“Now, I’ve been almost a year inactive with no prospects of
anything apart from wait,” Aspinall said. “So now it’s actually a
little 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.”

While UFC CEO Dana White has remained confident that Jones vs.
Aspinall will be booked, “Bones” has been cryptic at best, or more
often, silent. In a recent post on social media, Jones stated that
he
informed the promotion of his plans “a long time ago,” and it
is up to them to reveal those to the masses.

While that could mean any number of things, the heavyweight
champion also seemed to imply a return while taunting Aspinall on
his Instagram Stories:

When all is said and done, Aspinall is more concerned with winning
the undisputed heavyweight crown than he is with handing Jones his
first true defeat.

“I honestly can see Jon’s point of view,” Aspinall said. “I get it.
I get it. It’s just about the title for me. I just want the title,
that’s it. Nothing else really matters. So I get it completely, get
his point of view, get what everybody’s saying, completely
understand. I just want to prove I’m the best, that’s all.”

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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