Tom Aspinall is unsure how to handle fighting Curtis Blaydes overnight at UFC 304.
Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) defends his interim title in a rematch against Curtis Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) in the July 27 co-main event (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
The UFC 304 main card starts at 3 a.m. BST (10 p.m. ET) on ESPN+ pay-per-view, following the traditional start times for U.S. pay-per-views. That means Aspinall is expected to make the walk at around 4:30 a.m. local time.
Aspinall originally had an idea of doing his training camp in Las Vegas to adjust to the odd timings, but quickly realized that it wouldn’t be too wise.
“In all honesty, I have no idea right now,” Aspinall told Submission Radio. “I’m a bit lost at the thought of it. My original thought was I’m going to go to Vegas. I’m going to train in Vegas, and I’m going to get on Vegas time and I’m going to stick with that.
“Then I was, like, sh*t, Vegas is like 18 hours away. For me to be on Vegas time and then five, six days before the fight come back to Manchester and travel 18 hours, that’s exhausting just within itself whether you’re on a time difference or not. So I pushed that to the side.”
Aspinall thinks it’s best to seek help and advice from others. He finds it weird to have to completely adjust his sleep schedule while being in the U.K.
“In all honesty, I f*cking – I don’t know,” Aspinall said. “I don’t know what I’m doing at this point. I’m going to speak to a couple of people probably who are a lot smarter than I am and see if we can make some kind of compromise.
“I was thinking something like maybe I’ll try and sleep at like 9 p.m., wake up about 1 or 2 (a.m.), just be awake for a couple of hours, and then maybe work out at like 5, maybe go back to sleep for a couple of hours at like 7, 8. I don’t really know … I don’t really know.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.
Tom Aspinall admits struggle figuring out training for UFC 304’s middle-of-the-night start time