UFC Star Tom Aspinall Says Jake Paul ‘Could Go Far’ in MMA

• Paddy Pimblett vs Conor McGregor Would Be One Of The Biggest Fights Of All Time
• Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz Is The Fight To Make
• Jake Paul 'Could Go Far' in MMA
• Jake Paul Beats Anderson Silva
• UK Ready For UFC Stadium-Filler
• Boxing's Model Is 'Unsafe' And 'Disgusting'
• I used Cristiano Ronaldo's Surgeon
• Tyson Fury And Michael Bisping Reached Out In Support
• I'm Ready To Set The World On Fire
• Far Superior To Most Heavyweights

Tom Aspinall is one of the world’s best UFC fighters, with the Manchester-born star currently rated sixth in the heavyweight rankings.

The 29-year-old is one of the UK’s top performers in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, with a career record of 15 wins and three defeats.

Aspinall endured the nightmare of suffering a serious knee injury in the early seconds of his headline world title fight against Curtis Blaydes at the O2 Arena in London.

Now he is targeting a long-awaited comeback to the Octagon soon - and took time out from his rehabilitation to speak exclusively to Midnite about his recovery, the big talking points in UFC and Jake Paul’s ambition to dominate MMA. He also talks about Fruity Slots.

Paddy Pimblett vs Conor McGregor Would Be One Of The Biggest Fights Of All Time

"Paddy is doing great. He's doing it the right way that's for sure. He's making money, he's getting eyes on him. At this point he's had relatively few fights so it's difficult to say how far he can go, but he seems to be improving and he looks great. He looks like he's improving a lot so I'm excited to see how far Paddy can go."

"I agree with Paddy that him and Conor McGregor would be one of the biggest fights of all time. I don't think it's going to happen though. [Who would win] depends on which Conor turns up. He's looked a bit inconsistent of late but he's still very good, so who knows, I'd love to see that fight though."

Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz Is The Fight To Make

"I'd like to see Conor versus Nate Diaz for the third time, I'd love to see that. I'm a big Diaz fan and he looked great in his last fight. I think that would definitely be a fight that everybody would like to see.

"Anytime Conor fights anybody it's a big fight. Conor could fight the postman and everybody would tune in. And Diaz is a massive draw as well - I'd like to see them fight each other for the third time, both fights have been great so far and I'll definitely be up for watching a third one. I think Diaz would win the third one. He's looked very consistent recently, even though he's taken a couple of losses, he's looked good in the losses and Conor's not looked himself, to be honest, but you never know.

"The layoff might do him good. The injury might do him good. He might come back refocused and it would be a very interesting fight - but I think Diaz wins.

"I want to see Diaz make as much money as he can because he deserves it. As far as I know, his contract with the UFC is up and he's not resigned. These veterans who have had as many fights as they've had - I want to see them make as much money as they can because they deserve it. They deserve not to have to work again."

Jake Paul 'Could Go Far' in MMA

Jake Paul's current focus appears to be on boxing and he is tipped to beat Tommy Fury on 26 February, but Aspinall says the YouTube star could do well in MMA.

"I will say something that not a lot of fighters will say - I actually really like Jake Paul. I like what he's doing. He's got a lot of eyes on the sport that would not be watching the sport before. I'm talking all the way across combat sports.

"I think he brings a lot of eyes to combat sports and he's looked great boxing so far. He's obviously a very athletic guy and picked it up really quick and he'd look great doing MMA as well I think. In my opinion, if he was given the right fights and brought on properly, had the right training - his mentality is great - so he could far with it definitely."

Jake Paul Beats Anderson Silva

"I think he's got Anderson Silva at a good time. Silva has obviously got a lot of miles on the clock. But he also has a lot of skills so it's an interesting fight. Silva has got to be pushing 50 now but the skills are still there, the body is still there.

"I think Jake Paul takes it, I think Paul should be able to outwork him being the younger and fresher man but you never know. Silva getting a bit older and Paul's young and hungry - and Jake Paul's looked good. I don't care what anybody says, it looks like he has got skills. So I think he wins that one."

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UK Ready For UFC Stadium-Filler

"UFC and MMA is going from strength to strength in this country. It's absolutely massive, I can't walk down the street without someone stopping me and talking to me about MMA.

"That's not just me, that's all of us. It's really building now and we need a peak show, a massive massive show, 50,000 in a stadium, to show people what the atmosphere really could be like. The O2 is amazing but it's only 22,000, we need 50,000."

Boxing's Model Is 'Unsafe' And 'Disgusting'

"I'm personally very, very against the boxing model. I can't stand the boxing model. It's basically a prospect against a punching bag for 90 percent of the fights. It's terrible. It does not surprise me if people only go for the main event, that's usually closest to an even fight.

"You might get 60-40 or 70-30 on the main event in terms of who is the favourite. Whereas in the other fights you're talking 95-5 in terms of who is going to win. It's ridiculous, I can't believe this is sanctioned, this is legal - people are going to get seriously hurt and I'm surprised people still watch it because most of it is terrible. MMA in general is 50-50 fights. From the first fight to the main event and that's exactly how it should be. Let's find out who the best fighters are rather than who has got the best marketing or sells the most tickets. It's unsafe and to be honest it's quite disgusting."

I used Cristiano Ronaldo's Surgeon

"I got my surgery off the best surgeon in the UK. The top rehab guy in the UK. He used to be Cristiano Ronaldo's rehab guy. He's seriously up there in the rehab world and it feels great right now. I've been suffering with this knee injury for a long time. It feels way better than it has for a long time.

"Before I had a knee injury and no one knew I had a knee injury. Now I have the knee injury and everyone knows about it, so me as a high-level UFC fighter - I know how other high-level UFC fighters think. If I was fighting an opponent with a knee injury, 100 percent I'd be attacking that knee. No question about it and I know people will be doing the same to me so I'll only return when I'm 100 percent confident in taking kicks to the knee off other guys my size, or heavier. There's no way I'll come back any earlier. I need to make sure I'm 100 percent before I am booking a flight."

"I've had the bad knee for at least three years, maybe longer. There's been a lot of stuff I've not been able to do. I've been getting through the fights obviously well. I've been getting through the training camps pretty well, for the most part. But maybe

"I got a bit too overconfident, maybe I gambled one time too many when I knew I had a knee injury. I can't be doing these high-level training camps with a knee injury, I've got to take care of my physical health as well as my mental health, don't just keep getting pressured into doing these fights when I know that I'm injured so lesson learnt from now on - that's why I'm not going back until I'm 100 percent."

Tyson Fury And Michael Bisping Reached Out In Support

"I'm doing a lot better now, at first it was tough, I could not walk. I'm an active guy. When I was just sitting at home unable to stand up at home, that was kind of difficult. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel - but I'm not rushing back. No chance that I'm rushing back, I'm taking my time, and I'm doing things right. But at least I can do a bit of training now and start progressing towards coming back, I'm not just immobile anymore."

"Being active really is [a part of my mental health regime]. I realised it keeps me sane. Being busy, physically and mentally. It keeps me sane, so I wasn't able to do that. I was definitely getting impatient but I'm over that now and I've started to recover and I'm feeling much better."

"I'm really lucky because I have a really good support system. My close friends and family look after me, big time. I've had loads of fighters reach out to me, Michael Bisping. I've spoken to Tyson Fury, he's reached out to me. All different kinds of fighters and athletes, you have to understand this is a sport where you can get hurt and most fighters have been through something similar in the past."

I'm Ready To Set The World On Fire

"They told me usually for this injury it's eight months, but my physio is saying I'm way ahead of schedule. I'm not putting a timeframe on returning until I feel I'm in the right place mentally and physically to get back in there and compete, until then I'm not even thinking about it. When I come back I want to set the world on fire and win the heavyweight title because I've got nothing holding me back. Before I wanted to take my time. I have nothing to worry about anymore. The reason I wanted to take my time is because I knew my knee was bad. Now that's fixed I want to go after some big fights."

"I'd love to fight Curtis Blaydes again. But right now I'm not really in a position to [ask for it]. Curtis is on the fringe of a title shot, I'm fully aware I don't deserve for him to wait for me. I don't expect that. I would not wait if the shoe was on the other foot. I'm not bothered who I fight next, I've never really been that person that picks opponents. I got into this sport to fight everybody and I've not turned down a fight yet. If you look at the guys that I've fought in the UFC, out of the six guys I've fought four ranked opponents, which is pretty unheard of."

"The heavyweight division is really strong at the moment, probably the strongest it's been for a long time and you're now going to get guys retiring and there's a new wave of heavyweights coming in. I think it's really exciting; guys like me, Cyril Gane, Tai Tuivasa, Sergey Spivak - a good few younger guys - in the next five years you'll see us fighting each other in multiple fights and it's going to be a good time for the heavyweight division."

Far Superior To Most Heavyweights

"Probably the amount of hours I put in. I've put a ridiculous amount of hours into this sport. Also, I think my skill level is far superior to a lot of other heavyweights, to be honest, that's not me being cocky or arrogant - not all of the heavyweights - but a lot of the heavyweights, I just think that skill-wise I'm far superior to most of the other heavyweights, to be honest."

"I've sparred a lot of top heavyweights over a lot of different disciplines, it's not like I've just sparred just MMA heavyweights - I've sparred heavyweight champion boxers, Thai boxers, wrestlers, Jiu Jitsu guys and I just think me in MMA is just a lot better skill-wise than most other heavyweights."