Tom Aspinall can't wait to face Sergei Pavlovich for the UFC's interim heavyweight title.
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00:00 Wigan's played a pretty decent part of your journey, hasn't it?
00:04 - Yeah, we've been coming here for a while, to be honest.
00:07 The cage that they've got, the facility here is great.
00:10 I have no idea why they've got it.
00:11 I've asked Sean Wayne, who's obviously the England manager now,
00:14 who used to be the Wigan manager.
00:15 Like, why is this really good cage actually here?
00:18 And he's like, I don't know.
00:19 But it's great for us, you know what I mean?
00:20 Big cage, springy, everything's good about it.
00:24 So that's why we use it, it's great facilities.
00:25 - And you've been obviously in training in Wigan before
00:27 and the Mike Grundy era and stuff.
00:29 You go back a long way with the town.
00:31 - Yeah, of course.
00:32 Good place to live, I reckon.
00:34 I like it.
00:36 - Yeah, and obviously we've got Mike Grundy,
00:38 been there in the past, Mohamed Mokaev.
00:40 I mean, it's a decent hotbed of talent all of a sudden,
00:43 isn't it, with yourself?
00:44 - Yeah, definitely.
00:45 And Mohamed's looking great.
00:46 Like, I just watched his fight last week.
00:49 I've known Mohamed since he was 12 years old.
00:50 He's the guy who's gonna be an absolute superstar.
00:53 He's gonna go out there and win the flyweight title.
00:55 And yeah, he's definitely a future champion himself as well.
00:57 - And you're obviously, you know, proud of your roots,
00:59 Northwest.
00:59 I mean, does that help keep you grounded
01:01 in this crazy world of UFC?
01:03 - I don't know.
01:05 I don't know what keeps me grounded.
01:06 I just live the same life as I did
01:07 before I was in the UFC, do you know what I mean?
01:09 I think to be a top level athlete
01:12 or just top level at anything,
01:13 you have to have a strong routine, in my opinion.
01:15 And I just do the same stuff as I did
01:18 way before I was successful, do you know what I mean?
01:20 I just train, sleep, train, spend time with my children.
01:25 That's it.
01:25 I don't do anything spectacular, do you know what I mean?
01:27 I just have a good routine
01:28 and it works for me and I just stick with that.
01:30 - You're obviously flying the flag for the region
01:32 and the UK.
01:33 Do you take that into the ring with you?
01:34 Are you conscious of this?
01:36 - Not so much, to be honest, not so much.
01:39 I think this is a very individual sport.
01:41 I think that you need to do what you need to do to win.
01:46 And I think it's a pretty selfish sport
01:49 and you have to be quite selfish.
01:50 So I don't really think about anybody else, to be honest.
01:52 I just think about what I'm doing.
01:53 - Yeah.
01:54 And obviously you've been here a few times.
01:55 Do you keep in touch with the lads?
01:56 Are you getting messages ahead of fight night?
01:58 - Yeah, I get messages off a lot of people,
02:00 to be honest with you.
02:01 I get great support, great support from local people.
02:04 And I really appreciate it,
02:06 whether it's like famous people, sports people, whatever,
02:08 or just someone on the street, it doesn't really matter.
02:10 Like support, support, and I appreciate it from everyone.
02:12 - And what would it mean to bring the belt back here?
02:14 I mean, it's your trick.
02:15 - That would be something.
02:16 I have thought about it, definitely.
02:18 That'd be good.
02:19 I've dreamt so much about going back to the airport
02:21 and people being at the airport when I've got the belt.
02:23 I think that's gonna happen in a couple of weeks time.
02:26 - And Madison Square Garden as well, you mentioned.
02:27 I mean, it's the dream for you, isn't it?
02:29 It's the one place you wanna go.
02:30 - Absolutely prestigious place for combat sports.
02:34 Not just combat sports, just any sports and any performer
02:37 to be able to perform at Madison Square Garden is massive.
02:39 So yeah, looking forward to that massively.
02:42 But also, all that aside, I've got a massive fight.
02:46 So mainly I'm just focusing on that.
02:47 - And obviously the big thing
02:48 is it's two and a half weeks notice,
02:49 but you're ready, you're confident, you're full of belief.
02:52 - Yeah.
02:53 I mean, I'm always training anyway.
02:56 Ideally, I would have liked eight weeks to prepare
02:58 or 10 weeks.
02:59 But what can you do?
03:02 When opportunity knocks, you gotta answer it sometimes
03:04 and I'm really happy with it either way.