Footage has emerged of UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall competing in his only professional boxing match after his dad hinted at the 32-year-old making a sensational return to the squared circle.
The Brit is set for the biggest fight of his career on Saturday night as he makes the first defence of his heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321. Since exploding onto the scene with an impressive 45-second stoppage over Jake Collier on his UFC debut in July 2020, Aspinall has built a reputation as one of the most prolific finishers in UFC history.
In nine outings inside the Octagon, Aspinall has never gone past the second round. His sole setback came in his July 2022 bout with Curtis Blaydes, where a freak knee injury saw the contest cut short after just 15 seconds. After 12 months away for rehabilitation, Tom returned to action and knocked out Marcin Tybura in the first round. That win was enough to earn the Salford-born fighter a meeting with Sergei Pavlovich for the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship, where he took the gold with another first-round stoppage win.
After gaining revenge over Blaydes in his most recent contest at UFC 304, Aspinall set his sights on a unification bout with full champion Jon Jones. After months of negotiations that went nowhere, the saga was brought to an end in June when Jones offically retired. Tom was immediately promoted to full champion.
However, despite all the fighter’s success, his father, Andy Aspinall, doesn’t want his son to re-sign with the world’s leading MMA promotion when his contract expires. Instead, Aspinall Sr wants his son to return to boxing, where fight purses at the highest level are notoriously more generous than in the UFC.
During a recent interview with Andy, who also serves as Tom’s coach’ was asked whether he saw his son’s future in boxing or MMA. His reply was emphatic:
“Boxing for sure. The money is more money. He has three more fights on the contract, and I don’t want to sign a new contract personally. If you get into the top percentage of that sport, the UFC don’t pay anywhere near as much as boxing does… and I know from being around Tom every day — when he spars good boxers, he spars good.”
Andy has always been very open about wanting his son to retire with financial security and his health intact. From that perspective, a switch to boxing where he could make more money and fight less often makes perfect sense.
If Aspinall was to make the call to return to boxing after fulfilling his UFC obligations, footage of his sole professional outing suggests that he has plenty to offer in the ring. Three years prior to his UFC debut, a youthful Aspinall took on Hungarian journeyman Tamas Bajzath in a boxing match staged in Manchester.
Tom Aspinall Showed Huge Promise in His Professional Boxing Debut
Bajzath, who retired with a record of 12-24, was no world-beater, but knew how to defend himself in the ring. However, he had absolutely no answer to Aspinall’s swarming attack. Tom sent his opponent to the canvas within the first few seconds of the fight and forced him to the floor again shortly afterwards with a barrage of shots in the corner.
As brave as he was, Bajzath simply had no answer to Aspinall’s huge shots and ferocious intensity. When he hit the deck again before the end of the first round, the referee wisely waved the fight off before any further punishment could be dished out.
Aspinall has previously admitted that he considered quitting MMA for boxing in 2016, and it appears he will be asking himself a similar question before signing a new deal with the UFC. It’s a road that a number of stars have taken before, making a considerable amount of cash in the process. When Francis Ngannou quit the UFC to take boxing matches with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, he made more money than he did in his entire UFC career, despite losing both bouts.
‘The Predator’ reportedly made $20 million to fight Joshua compared to the $600,000 he made as UFC Heavyweight Champion. Conor McGregor also crossed over to the squared citcle to face Floyd Mayweather in 2017 and banked a career-high payday in the process.
