Tom Aspinall gets brutally honest about fight that helped him overcome the UFC jitters
Interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall recently revealed that he got past the UFC jitters after his fight against Alexander Volkov. Aspinall fought Volkov in the main event of UFC London in 2022 and won comfortably with a first-round armbar submission.
The 31-year-old shared his thoughts on the infamous UFC jitters in a recent interview with Adam Catteral, saying:
"There's a thing about like UFC jitters and performing. We have a thing for anyone who doesn't know, people call it like UFC jitters. Like when you go from a regional show, then fighting in the big show, people don't tend to perform as well."
The UFC interim champion mentioned that he had seen several fighters, who performed well in Cage Warriors and other regional promotions, falter at the biggest stage. Aspinall believes that it was due to their mentality and shared how he overcame it.
"I think maybe for me, my Volkov fight, because when I fought Volkov, he was ranked in the top five, and I was ranked, just about broke the top 15. As soon as I beat someone in the top five, I was like, 'You know what? I can be UFC champion.'"
Check out Tom Aspinall's comments below (9:50):
Tom Aspinall discloses his number one priority
UFC interim champion Tom Aspinall knows that his status as champion comes with lucrative opportunities outside the octagon. However, that doesn't mean his priorities have changed over the years.
In his recent appearance on the IMPAULSIVE podcast, Aspinall had this to say about his goal for the remainder of his career.
"When you start getting big in MMA, and when I say big, I mean popular and winning titles and stuff like that, other opportunities do come, of course. Lucrative ones, where you can make money, become more popular, and do all this stuff. Now, for me, that's good, but also, I'm trying to be the freaking best ever, so that comes first before anything."
Check out Tom Aspinall's comments below (41:49):