2022 was a giant 12 months for the UFC in England. The promotion returned to the UK in March for the primary time because the pandemic with an absolute banger of a card that noticed a ton of rising native stars win. The environment was electrical as Tom Aspinall, Arnold Allen, Paddy Pimblett, and Molly McCann carried the evening with their rousing victories.
The follow-up present was a bit clunkier. Darren Until was pressured out of his large return battle in opposition to Jack Hermansson, who then decisioned late-replacement Chris Curtis in a dreadfully boring battle. Seven of the eight prelim fights additionally went the gap, leaving the gang comparatively flat. Molly McCann and Paddy Pimblett saved the present, however the primary occasion ended with Tom Aspinall blowing his knee out 15 seconds into his battle with Curtis Blaydes.
The UFC returns to London March 18th for UFC 286, and the cardboard has been coming collectively reluctantly. Despite reassurances, there’s nonetheless fear that Kamaru Usman’s hand is too injured for him to battle Birmingham’s new welterweight champion Leon Edwards. Paddy Pimblett is out with an ankle damage. Molly McCann is out with a fiancé. And Tom Aspinall doesn’t sound able to return, regardless of being unwilling to shut the door utterly on the occasion.
“My ego needs to go ‘stick me on the cardboard I’m good to go,’” Aspinall mentioned in an extensive interview with OLBG. “However I must suppose long run which I’ve not been doing and must get every thing proper. I’m not ruling [UFC 286] out. On the minute it’s nonetheless like 14-15 weeks away. And at this level I’ve not completed a lot heavy coaching. It’s simply been rehab actually.”
“However can I prepare in 14 weeks? The reply is sure. Will I be prepared to start out a title run in 14 weeks, I don’t know. And if I don’t know – that’s not the reply I’m searching for. It’s extremely unlikely however not an entire no at this level.”
“I can’t afford for [the knee injury] to occur once more. I’m not speaking about funds, I’m speaking about my ego. My ego can’t take that once more. Me on my again, clutching onto my knee — it’s simply not going to occur once more. There’s simply no likelihood I can let that occur once more. The knee must be a million %. My ego needs to go ‘stick me on the cardboard I’m good to go’ however I must suppose long run which I’ve not been doing and must get every thing proper.
That sounds an terrible lot like a no, and Aspinall wasn’t completed.
“My dad doesn’t need me on the cardboard,” he added. “It’s so simple as that, my dad says don’t be on the cardboard. I ought to take heed to him extra.”
“There nonetheless is [doubt in my mind about the knee]. I need that to be gone as a result of that’s what I’ve been coping with the final 4 or 5 years with this outdated damage. I’ve been coping with ‘I can’t do that due to the knee and I can’t do this.’ I don’t wish to prepare or battle like that anymore. I wish to battle freed from that, that’s why I’m not giving the comeback a time-frame as a result of I need that to be utterly free earlier than persevering with with my profession.”
So yeah, we wouldn’t anticipate Tom Aspinall to point out up at UFC 286 as something apart from a spectator. Knee accidents aren’t one thing to hurry again from, and Aspinall is just too promising of a prospect to threat this type of fast return.
It’s unlucky that one other large native star might be off the cardboard, however the UK has an embarrassment of riches in relation to thrilling expertise. They simply haven’t gotten the identical rub from the UFC. Now the promotion should lay that shine on them as March 18th approaches shortly.
