Tom Aspinall has been impatiently waiting for a UFC fight date since July 2024.
Just 60 seconds was all the interim heavyweight champion needed to KO Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304, which took place in Manchester, England, last summer.
A fight with Dana White‘s other heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, has been in talks since he stopped Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November.
Protracted negotiations mean Tom Aspinall is highly likely to spend more than a year on the sidelines during the peak of his career, which would be a disaster for most high-level athletes.
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Tom Aspinall reveals health battle
On Sunday, Aspinall and his dad raged about not getting paid due to the Jones UFC fight delay.
In the same video, England’s great heavyweight hope admitted his lengthy layoff may be a blessing in disguise because he has been battling illness for the majority of 2025.
“As professional athletes or fighters, we don’t like to talk about stuff that’s holding us back,” Aspinall said.
“Injuries, illnesses, all that kind of stuff. But this year, I’ve actually been ill more times than I ever have in my life, and we are in April. I got a virus before Christmas, and basically, I’ve had it on and off since.
“I’ve probably not rested enough. You can probably hear in my voice I’m still a bit nasally, but I’m right at the very end of it now, finally. I’ve had a couple of courses of antibiotics.
“It has made me look in-depth medically with what’s going on because I keep picking up viruses. Usually, I’ll get ill once a year, if that, with a head cold or whatever. But I’ve been really ill, bed-bound a couple of times. I’ve had ringworm quite a few times and other minor skin infections.
“Looking back, it’s probably a good job I haven’t been active because I haven’t been functioning at 100 percent for a while. We finally have some results in on why that is.”
Dana White ‘super confident’ about Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall
White watched from the front row as Ian Garry beat Carlos Prates in the UFC Kansas City main event on Saturday night.
Post-fight, he fielded questions from assembled media, who wanted an update on Jones vs Aspinall.
“Everything you hear is bulls— until we say it,” White insisted.
“I’ve said it many times, that’s the fight we want to make this year.
“Still super confident [it happens].”