{"id":297358,"date":"2023-11-12T14:25:09","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T14:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=297358"},"modified":"2023-11-12T14:25:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T14:25:09","slug":"tom-aspinall-breaks-down-in-tears-and-dedicates-his-belt-to-his-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/mma\/tom-aspinall-breaks-down-in-tears-and-dedicates-his-belt-to-his-dad\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Aspinall breaks down in tears and dedicates his belt to his dad"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tom Aspinall dedicated his belt to his father, Andy, after knocking out Russian powerhouse Sergei Pavlovich to claim the interim heavyweight title.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tom became the third UFC champion from his homeland by knocking out the Russian in the first round of their bout at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Tom\u00a0landed a powerful right hook to send Pavlovich tumbling to the floor before following up with several ground strikes to end the contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old was overcome with emotion after the fight and dedicated his belt to his father – stating his dad had ‘worked harder than anybody’.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking after the fight, Tom said:\u00a0‘It’s been a crazy two and a half weeks. He’s [Pavlovich] a big scary guy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Tom Aspinall dedicated his belt to his father, Andy, after knocking out Russian powerhouse Sergei Pavlovich to claim the interim heavyweight title\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Tom landed a powerful right hook to send Pavlovich tumbling to the floor before following up with several ground strikes to end the contest\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The 30-year-old was overcome with emotion after the fight and dedicated his belt to his father – stating his dad had ‘worked harder than anybody’\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘I’ve never been as scared in my life as fighting this guy but you know what? I’ve got a lot of power too and I believe in myself. I really believe in myself.’<\/p>\n
‘This man right here, my father, has worked harder than anybody. So, this belt right here is dedicated to my father.’<\/p>\n
Andy quit his high paying job when Tom was just 12 years old to the youngster him\u00a0develop his jiu-jitsu skills.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pair used to train together in garden before Andy eventually opened a Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) school.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Sun about his decision to leave his job, Tom’s father said: ‘I was a contractor for a long time making good money and then I was an IT manager.<\/p>\n
‘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.<\/p>\n
‘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.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
A post shared by UFC on TNT Sports (@tntsportsufc)<\/p>\n