Tom Aspinall: British UFC star aiming for summer return after knee injury
- Published
How Aspinall went from £20 in the bank to headlining UFC
British heavyweight Tom Aspinall is targeting a return to action in the summer as he continues his recovery from a serious knee injury.
Manchester's Aspinall, 29, needed surgery after tearing knee ligaments just 15 seconds into his bout with Curtis Blaydes in July.
The injury resulted in the first defeat of Aspinall's six-fight UFC career.
"I'm feeling pretty good, I've started training again fully," Aspinall told BBC Sport.
"It's been a big impact on the body, especially a knee for a big guy, so to have a big surgery it needs some time for full recovery but I'm looking forward to coming back.
"Ideally I'd like [to return] in the summer but if it's later than that that's fine."
Aspinall is sixth in the UFC heavyweight rankings after convincingly winning the first five fights of his UFC career.
He was headlining his second London card inside four months after victory over Alexander Volkov in March, when he suffered the injury.
Aspinall says he had suffered problems with his knee for five years prior to the bout with Blaydes.
"It was always in the back of my mind that it was going to give up on me one day but I just expected it to be in the gym," said Aspinall.
"I needed surgery on it the last five years but I was getting through the fights. I was fighting former champions, contenders and running through them - I didn't have an issue with the knee at all and I just thought I can do it one more time.
"I used to have this thing where sometimes I was training and my knee would just completely lock in a certain position. In that instance [against Blaydes] for whatever reason my knee completely locked. I couldn't straighten it and a lot of the stuff in the knee just tore."
A win over American Blaydes would have put Aspinall among the heavyweight title contenders.
Despite his momentum being halted by the injury, the Briton remained positive and used the time away from MMA to spend time with his family.
"At least I know as soon as my knee's better I'm going to be back and the ball's going to start rolling again," he said.
"I tried to enjoy the summer as much as I could. I spent time with the kids and stuff, BBQs, pubs, drinking, all that stuff.
"Just living a normal life for a little bit rather than living a strict regimented life. I had a bit of time to chill a little bit."