Tom Aspinall is coming back to defend his UFC heavyweight title … eventually.
The 33-year-old Brit has not competed since his “No Contest” opposite Ciryl Gane atop the UFC 321 fight card last fall in Abu Dhabi, a championship headliner that was called off by way of disgusting fingernails. Aspinall had surgery to repair the damage, but still needs “additional testing” before doctors will clear him to compete.
That’s according to his new manager and longtime boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn.
“He’s motivated,
and I can’t give you an exact date yet, but what I can tell you is he wants to get back in there as soon as he is physically able to do so,” Hearn told Bloody Elbow. “It all depends whether he’ll be ready. He’s training. I think he’s gonna have to go through some additional testing to make sure he’s good to return, but he wants to fight.”
That depends on who you ask.
“He’s under contract,” Hearn said. “The only thing that we have to look at is when Tom Aspinall will be ready to return. And that’s not when he will be ready to return from a mindset perspective; that’s from a commission perspective in terms of his injuries. And that shows you what he has been through, because if the commission won’t let him fight, you know how serious the injuries were.”
Gane went on to win the interim crown by stopping Alex Pereira at UFC White House.
“He wants to fight,” Hearn said. “He’s a fighter. So it’s been very frustrating for him, but he’ll be back.”
