Tom Aspinall Compared to Muhammad Ali as British Compatriot Heaps Huge Praise

Aspinall is the third UFC champion of English origins, falling behind former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards and Bisping himself. ‘The Count’ won championship gold back in 2016 when he defeated prime Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 to give the United Kingdom its first-ever UFC champion.

Since Aspinall’s debut in 2020, Bisping has been a steady supporter, standing by him all the way to his championship crowning. The finishing expert came into the UFC guns blazing, putting on dominant performances against veterans like Andrei Arlovski, Alexander Volkov and Serghei Spivac.

However, his dominant path hit a speed bump when he suffered a freak injury in the early seconds of his fight against Curtis Blaydes in 2022. Aspinall was ruled out for almost a year and was under intensive care. Nevertheless, he made his return exactly a year later and knocked out Marcin Tybura to get back in the win column.

His next fight against Sergei Pavlovich was deemed his most significant test due to the Russian native’s knockout power. However, Aspinall proved the critics wrong and caught Pavlovich with a combination, sending him pummeling to the ground to win the interim heavyweight championship.

Bisping stood steadily in the crowd at UFC 295, watching Aspinall win the interim heavyweight championship, and cheered him on while his fellow Englishman got emotional. ‘The Count’ will undoubtedly be present at UFC 321, where Tom Aspinall will take on #1 ranked heavyweight Ciryl Gane in his first UFC heavyweight title defense.

Tom Aspinall gets candid about the fear he faces before going into a fight

Tom Aspinall is undoubtedly one of the most electrifying and dominant heavyweights in UFC history. With wins over the majority of the top 10 in the heavyweight division, the Englishman has solidified his status as the champion. Adding to his accolades is his record of the shortest average fight time, at 2 minutes and 2 seconds; the champion has never gone past the second round.

The Englishman was also in constant pursuit of former double champion Jon Jones , who is deemed one of the most dangerous fighters to step in the cage. However, the fight never materialized, and Jones retired, making the Englishman the heavyweight champion of the world. Recently, Aspinall recently opened up on feeling fear before stepping into the Octagon on an episode of the “IMPAULSIVE” podcast.

It’s one of the scariest feelings. It’s being sat in the arena, getting your hands wrapped, and you can hear the roar of the crowd like it’s shaking the walls, and you are scared to get in there. You know that somewhere else in that arena, there is another guy going through the same thing as me, and we are going to meet in the middle in front of millions of people, and just fight, and one of us is going to be separated from our consciousness. We are supposed to be all Alpha males, but I will openly speak about how scared I am to fight.

Tom Aspinall via Impaulsive

Tom Aspinall’s honesty about the fear he faces before every fight only adds to the respect he commands inside and outside the cage. By embracing his vulnerability, he shows that true strength lies not in denying fear, but in overcoming it. For fans, this reminder makes his championship journey even more inspiring, proving that greatness is built on courage, humility, and resilience.