Tom Aspinall says Georges St-Pierre helped him confront his fear of fighting.
The interim UFC heavyweight champion has climbed to the top of MMA’s most dangerous division by taking out Sergei Pavlovich, Curtis Blaydes, and Alexander Volkov.
Now he’s closing in on a heavyweight unification clash with the greatest fighter in UFC history, Jon Jones.
Despite his dominance, Tom Aspinall admits to being scared whenever he steps inside the UFC Octagon.
- READ MORE: Tom Aspinall gives promising update on Jon Jones showdown after ‘fantastic’ meeting with UFC brass
Tom Aspinall takes tips from Georges St-Pierre
On Tuesday, Logan Paul released a podcast with Aspinall, who was refreshingly honest about his fear of fighting.
During their chat, the English knockout artist accused Jones of ‘conning the public’ amid protracted negotiations for their unification clash, which Dana White claims is ‘done’ but not done enough to officially announce.
Aspinall also revealed how he’d learned from MMA icon Georges St-Pierre, who has always been very open about his mixed feelings about fighting.
“I learned a lot of this stuff from GSP,” he said on Impaulsive. “I know GSP personally now, but a lot of it I just learned from watching his podcasts and watching his stuff.
“Because he’s so open and he’s like 10 years before me, maybe even more. And that guy’s going out there fighting guys like Nick Diaz, who are giving him the finger and p—— him off constantly.
“He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m scared. But I’m going to go over and kick your a– anyway.’ I love that upfront honesty when you’re honest with your emotions and facing yourself. I absolutely love that.”
Embracing fear as a fighter
Aspinall is at a point in his life and career where he feels fear has almost become a ‘superpower’.
“I will openly speak about how scared I am when I fight.” he added.
“There’s me and GSP who’ve spoke about it a lot. There’s so many UFC fighters who are like, ‘I ain’t f****** scared. I’ll fight anybody.’ And I’ll definitely fight anybody as well, but it’s still scary, and I’m open with it.
“I feel like when you are open with that and you embrace it, it gives you a whole superpower in itself.
“You’re like, ‘I’m f****** scared, but I’m gonna do it anyway.'”