UFC champion Tom Aspinall talks Manchester life, Jon Jones super-fight and 'dream' homecoming

A new name was added to the pantheon of North West pugilists on Saturday night. Step aside Anthony Crolla, Ricky Hatton, Tyson Fury and MMA great Michael Bisping, because there is a new star in town: Tom Aspinall.

On two weeks’ notice, the gentle giant crossed the Atlantic to face the scariest man in the UFC. A chance at eternal glory, achieved by several Manchester names of the past, awaited.

Sergei Pavlovich had finished his previous six opponents by first-round stoppage before he was left tasting the Madison Square Garden canvas inside 70 seconds. Disciplined in martial arts by his father, Andy, since seven years old, over two decades of blood, sweat and tears culminated in the UFC gold being wrapped around Tom’s waist.

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What is it about the waters around these parts?

“I was thinking about this on the flight back,” he tells MEN Sport. “We’re very working-class people from the North West. It’s in our DNA. I’m from a mining town, we are tough people. Everyone has to graft for what they have. I have no idea (why so many fighters hail from the region) but there are a lot of tough people from the North West, that’s for sure.”

Hailing from Atherton, a town pivotal to the Manchester Coalfields’ output during the Industrial Revolution, the gentle giant is as humble as they come. Nothing personifies modesty more than being back on the school run, in the North West rain, just 72 hours after fulfilling a lifelong dream.

The party days are over, with the 30-year-old hellbent on becoming the best to ever do it. While Tom exudes the persona of a down-to-earth, level-headed