Tom Aspinall: The UFC Doesn't Want You To Know This! Jon Jones Wasn't Living Like An Athlete!

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Tom Aspinall (0:33)

I'm the number one heavyweight in the world right now, and I'm scared to fight everybody.

Steven Bartlett (0:36)

What about Jon Jones?

Tom Aspinall (0:37)

I'd be an idiot otherwise. But now that I understand fear and what it does for me, it just fuels me so much in a way that nothing else can. So I'll be prepared to do whatever I need to do. But I just don't like what he's doing because I can't function knowing that I trained for a fight and didn't actually fight somebody.

SPEAKER_1 (0:55)

Jon Jones is officially retired.

Tom Aspinall (0:57)

Tom Aspinall is the heavyweight champion of the UFC.

Steven Bartlett (1:00)

Did you see this coming? Do you have any idea when you'll be back in the Octagon?

Tom Aspinall (1:05)

I do, yeah, yeah.

Steven Bartlett (1:06)

Tom, you're the only ever British heavyweight champion of the UFC. So what advice can you give young men who are struggling to find that sense of purpose?

Tom Aspinall (1:13)

It takes years to become an overnight success. I've been going since I was eight years old. I've been up against so many tests from career-ending injuries, to financial struggles, to mental struggles. At one point, we had three kids at the age of 25 and I had no money.

I mean, my first pro fight, I got 200 quid. I felt the pressure trying to be a young guy by having all this responsibility on me, having to borrow money from friends to buy nappies for my kids so I could keep living on this dream. But outlasting people and consistency is massively underrated. And in today's day and age, people just have a lot of options. But that obsessiveness of being 100% focused on something, you win.

Steven Bartlett (1:51)

Tom, there's this black box in front of me which contains something which represents a pivotal moment in your career. What is the story behind this?

Tom Aspinall (1:59)

It was the most devastating thing that happened in my whole career.

Steven Bartlett (2:05)

So ahead of showing you that interview which we recorded a while ago, I wanted to call Tom and get his first reaction to the news that he's now the UFC's undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. So what I'm about to show you is a conversation I had with Tom hours after the news was announced that he's now the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. And then I'm going to play the long-form interview that me and Tom had several weeks ago right here in the studio. Enjoy. A quick one before we get back to this episode. Just give me 30 seconds of your time. Two things I wanted to say. The first thing is a huge thank you for listening and tuning in to the show week after week. Means the world to all of us. And this really is a dream that we absolutely never had and couldn't have imagined getting to this place. But secondly, it's a dream where we feel like we're only just getting started. And if you enjoy what we do here, please join the 24% of people that listen to this podcast regularly and follow us on this app. Here's a promise I'm going to make to you. I'm going to do everything in my power to make this show as good as I can now and into the future. We're going to deliver the guests that you want me to speak to. And we're going to continue to keep doing all of the things you love about the show.

Tom Aspinall (3:09)

Thank you.

Steven Bartlett (3:10)

Tom, did you see this coming?

Tom Aspinall (3:17)

Yes, but I just didn't expect it when it happened. I expected it. So next week I'm going to Vegas. I'm going for the, well, they say it's the biggest fight card of the year, a fight card called International Fight Week. And I knew that had some news coming on International Fight Week. We got wind that Jon Jones is going to retire and they're going to announce it on International Fight Week. But for some reason, they announced it last night. I don't know what that reason is. It took me by surprise at least, but they announced it last night.