Tom Aspinall fought after 24 hours without sleep then forced ref to call off fight with 60-second KO
Tom Aspinall proved he can flourish in adversity at UFC 304.
The interim heavyweight champion had the tough task of being the co-main event at a show in Manchester that ran through the night until after 6am.
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As if facing one of the best fighters on the planet, Curtis Blaydes, in the early hours of the morning wasn’t tough enough, Aspinall had to do it seriously sleep-deprived.
The 31-year-old recently revealed that negative thoughts stopped him from sleeping the night before UFC 304, so by the time he got in the Octagon he’d been awake for a full day.
"I got back to the hotel put my head on the pillow and all those negative thoughts just started running through my mind," Aspinall said on the ‘’ podcast.
“I don't want to get knocked out in front of 25,000 of my home fans.
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“I just ended up lying there for like four or five hours not being able to sleep.
“Honestly, by the time I fought, so I fought around 6 am or 5.30/6 am, I was awake for nearly 24 hours.”
Aspinall fought like he had somewhere to be, and after his recent revelation, it seems like his quick KO win over Blaydes was brought on by his desire to go to bed.
The UK MMA star dropped ‘Razor’ in the opening minute and swarmed him with a barrage of ground strikes that forced veteran referee Marc Goddard to wave off the fight after just 60 seconds.
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Aspinall used his post-fight speech to call out Jon Jones, who holds the real heavyweight title and has done so since submitting Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023.
‘Bones’ is due to defend his belt against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November, although that event hasn’t been officially confirmed by Dana White yet.
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Aspinall will play a backup role for that fight. He’ll step in if either man withdraws for whatever reason – but he feels like he shouldn’t have to wait for a unification shot.
Aspinall added: “The way I look at it, I’m the best heavyweight in the world.”
“I’m not getting my credit for it. They’re holding the belt hostage and Jon Jones is loving it. He’s loving the fact that Dana is getting on every interview possible [bigging him up].
Tom Aspinall takes aim at Jon Jones and Dana White for 'holding the belt hostage' and backs himself as the real heavyweight
“You’re talking about bantamweights, and Dana White flips it and starts talking about how good Jon Jones is.
“I’m like, 'If he’s that good, let’s fight.’ I’m the No. 1 heavyweight right now. Let’s put it on the line, and let’s see who the man is – me or Jon
“Jon Jones, he was praying that I would lose that fight against Curtis Blaydes, praying that I would because there’s no way that you find publicly, nowhere, him saying that he would fight me.”
“It doesn’t exist. I challenge everyone watching this interview to find a statement, a quote, a video where Jon Jones is saying that he’ll fight me after he fights Stipe. It doesn’t exist. The guy is smart.”
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“We know he’s a bit overweight these days. The guy sat there with the Cheetos fingers or whatever, the Doritos fingers with his iPhone in his hand, waiting for me to get knocked out so he can start tweeting about it.
“Since I won that fight, he’s been completely silent and continues to go completely quiet about me because there’s no way on earth that he’s going to fight me.
“I’ll retire Jon Jones without even fighting him.”
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