Who is UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall? Parents, Children, and more about the English MMA star

Tom Aspinall, the newly crowned UFC Heavyweight Champion, stands at 6'5 and hails from Greater Manchester. He is known for his explosive strength, speed, finishing abilities, early knockouts, and grappling skills. He was crowned the new champion earlier today, as former UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones retired.

Earlier during the day, Dana White announced that UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones has officially retired, making Aspinall the official UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Tom Aspinall was supposed to make his debut at UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs Edwards on 21 March 2020 in the United Kingdom against Raphael Pessoa. However, Pessoa was replaced by Jake Collier because of an injury, and the event was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aspinall eventually made his debut on July 25, 2020, wherein he defeated Collier via knockout in 45 seconds, earning him the performance of the night. Since then, his rise to the top has been meteoric, as he has fought opponents like Marcin Tybura, Alexander Volkov, and Andrei Arlovski.

Aspinall suffered a setback in July 2022 when he had to be sidelined for over a year due to a knee injury he sustained in a match against Curtis Blades, in which he ended up losing via knockout. He returned to fight Marcin Tybura in July 2023 at UFC Fight Night and won via knockout in under a minute in the first round.

On 11 November 2023, he faced Sergei Pavlovich for the Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion at two weeks' notice, as the scheduled fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic was cancelled. Aspinall again won the match by a little over a minute.

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More about Tom Aspinall

Aspinall was born in Salford, England, on 11 April 1993 to Andy and Tracey Aspinall. Andy worked in the IT sector, while his mother is of Polish descent.

His family has a long history of taking part in combat sports. Tom's growth as a fighter was greatly influenced by his father, who was well-known in the British MMA community.

Andy, a coach in the UK martial arts scene and a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, first exposed Tom to combat sports at an early age. In addition to being his lifetime mentor and cornerman, Andy taught him jiu-jitsu, boxing, and wrestling. Tom attributes his success in MMA in large part to his father's guidance and encouragement.

Andy quit his job so that he could train Tom as he saw the potential his son had. Speaking about it to talkSPORT, he said:

“I did 25 years in IT. I was a contractor for a long time making good money and then I was an IT manager. I got offered a redundancy payment that I didn’t have to take, but Tom was very good at jiu-jitsu and there weren’t many jiu-jitsu schools open."

He added:

“I just decided to teach jiu-jitsu and hoped that Tom at 12, and my other son at 9, would teach jiu-jitsu because they’d have a career then. I had some money then, so it was alright. I’m glad I did it. Not just for Tom’s fighting. I’m glad I did it because I didn’t like the environment [in my old job]. I don’t like politics and I like the quiet life. This has been the quiet life.”

Tom Aspinall is married to Justynagro, a Polish woman, and they have three sons. On social media, Aspinall presents himself as a loving husband and father, frequently posting tidbits about his family life.

Aspinall was profoundly affected when he learned that one of his twin boys had been diagnosed with autism. He was initially in denial, but he subsequently accepted the diagnosis with compassion and has since started speaking out in favor of autism awareness.

Speaking to the BBC, he said:

"I didn't want there to be something wrong with my son. But when you start to learn about autism, you learn there's not something wrong with them. It's just a different way that their brains work."

Being a parent to an autistic child is tough, but it is a learning experience, and Tom Aspinall is embracing it. Speaking about his son to ITV, he said:

"He's amazing, he's fantastic. He's my absolute world, I absolutely love him."

He often uses his social media presence to spread awareness about autism:

"I want to have as many people knowing about autism as possible using the platform that I've got just to talk and get the message out there about autism - the way they live their life and the needs they've got and the way that people in public should treat them. If I can get that out there a bit, that's great for me that's job done."

Do you think Aspinall will be able to hold on to the title for long? Sound off in the comments section.

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