Manc lad eyes fight on home ground after big victory in the Big Apple

A NEW name has been added to the pantheon of Manchester's fighting legends.

- CHARLIE BENNETT

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 from Greater Manchester crossed the Atlantic to face the scariest man in the UFC.

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.

Nurtured in martial arts by his father, Andy, since seven-years-old, over two decades of blood, sweat and tears culminated in the UFC heavyweight title belt being wrapped around Aspinall’s waist.

What is it about the waters around these parts?

“I was thinking about this on the flight back,” he tells M.E.N. 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.”

Born in Salford and hailing from Atherton, a town pivotal to the Manchester coalfields' output during the Industrial Revolution, Aspinall is as humble as they come.

Nothing personifies modesty more than being back on the school run in the rain just 72 hours after fulfilling his lifelong dream.