Tom Aspinall hasn’t been undisputed heavyweight champion for long, but his father is already wondering if there are bigger opportunities out there.
Up next for Aspinall is a title defense against Ciryl Gane, which takes place at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 25. The British star finally begins the next chapter of his career as he moves on from a will-they-won’t-they feud with former heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones, whose retirement this past June led to Aspinall being promoted from interim champion status.
Should Aspinall defeat Gane, his father Andy Aspinall would like to see him booked again soon and if lucrative opportunities outside of MMA open up, then that’s another option they would consider.
“He’ll have a fight now and hopefully he’ll have a fight January and hopefully I’d like him to headline a card in England if he wants to do that again,” Andy said on Tom’s YouTube channel. “And then just see what he wants to do from that. If he’s not bothered about the money, I’d love him to have a very highly paid boxing match for the money. The money’s there and I don’t see why somebody as talented as Tom shouldn’t have a piece of that money when the boxers are getting a hundred times more, more than a hundred times more. The UFC ain’t paying that type of money. If they would, it would be great and he could get the money, but I think these one percent of people who are very, very good should get paid.
“Tom’s money, some people say it’s good, compared to a [soccer] player, an American footballer who we’ve talked to when we’re in America, he’s earning a tiny fraction of what they’re earning and he’s one of the best in the world at doing what he does and not getting paid enough. And it’s very dangerous, so when he’s got enough to get out of it, I’d say get out of it.”
Aspinall, 32, has lost just once in nine UFC appearances, and that setback happened 15 seconds into a fight with Curtis Blaydes when Aspinall suffered a freak knee injury. The two met in a rematch at UFC 304 and Aspinall won handily, knocking Blaydes out in 60 seconds.
Tom has held a share of the heavyweight crown since November 2023 and now that he’s officially undisputed, not much has changed according to Andy.
“It’s his job,” Andy said. “You know, if I was doing a job, I’d want to be the best at doing the job and he’s inherited that trains really hard and he’s learned a lot and he’s very good. He deserves it. He’s feeling it. I think if he was a roofer, I’d hope he’d be a good roofer. If he chose to dig roads, I’d hope he’d enjoy, it doesn’t really matter, it’s just a job isn’t it? It’s just what he does. I don’t think of him any differently at all. Because when do you know when you’ve made it? How do you know?”
Given the longevity of your average heavyweight, it would seem as though Aspinall has plenty of years of competition ahead of him, whether it’s in MMA, boxing, or some other field of combat sports. He’s been enormously successful so far and Andy hopes that when the time is right, his son will know when to walk away from fighting.
“When he retires,” Andy said, when asked when he’ll feel like they’ve made it. “When he gets out of it healthy, that’s all I’m bothered about. He’s made some money now, he could get out of it now if he wanted to and do something else. He still wants to prove a bit more and I’m still active enough to keep doing it with me, so when he wants to get out, he can get out.
“Won’t bother me if he packs in tomorrow. Just what we do together, this. Find something else to do together. He’s got three kids. Going to do loads of stuff with them, so still got loads of stuff to do, hopefully.”
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