Why Fear Is Not a Weakness: UFC Champion Tom Aspinall
The High Performance Podcast
High Performance
4.8 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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Tom Aspinall is one of the most feared heavyweights in the UFC. But behind the power and precision is something far more human: fear. Tom is one of the rare fighters willing to sit down and talk about feeling genuinely scared. He candidly admits that the higher you climb, the more is at stake, and the more the fear grows.
He reveals the crucial mental habit he developed: moving past the inner battle, the ‘second fight’ against himself, to harness fear as a force for high performance.
In this powerful episode, Tom shares the habits that turn high-pressure panic into laser-sharp focus:
- Reframe Fear as Fuel: Learn how to direct the adrenaline rush of fear toward opportunity, just like Tom, who tells himself, "This is the moment when I'm at my sharpest".
- The Golden Rule of Action: Discover the importance of simply showing up and why consistency always beats intensity when building success.
- The Power of Belief: Tom discusses the pivotal role his father played as his coach and cheerleader, relentlessly believing in him even when he struggled to believe in himself.
- The Ultimate Commitment: Hear Tom's chilling, yet honest, perspective on the ‘spiritual aspect’ of his sport and the level of commitment required to reach the very top.
If you’ve ever felt your stomach drop before a big moment, or wished you knew how to stay steady when it matters most, this conversation with Tom is worth your time.
Listen to the full episode with Tom Aspinall: https://pod.fo/e/2d3d2e
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's very rare that like you'll get a UFC fighter who will talk about fear. Fear is there. |
| 0:08.8 | And I think the main thing that I do is I just try and embrace it and enjoy it. |
| 0:15.6 | Welcome to the essential habits of high performance, the podcast where we explore what some of the world's most |
| 0:21.6 | successful performers do differently and what we can all learn from their habits. Now today I |
| 0:26.3 | wouldn't begin with a four-letter word, one that starts with F. No, not that one. This one is |
| 0:32.3 | fair. The one word that no UFC fighter ever wants to talk about. |
| 0:38.0 | The one emotion that every fighter feels, |
| 0:40.4 | but very few are brave enough to acknowledge. |
| 0:44.1 | Today's story comes from someone who does exactly that. |
| 0:47.3 | A man from Wigan, who has risen to become one of the most formidable heavyweights in the UFC, |
| 0:53.5 | and who has done so by not pretending to be |
| 0:56.3 | fearless, but instead shaking hands and making friends with fear. This is Tom Aspinall. |
| 1:05.7 | Hey, I'm Damien Hughes and I've been co-hosting the high performance podcast for nearly six years now. |
| 1:11.9 | I've worked as a trusted advisor to dozens of elite leaders in sport, business and the arts |
| 1:17.3 | who've been looking to create, curate and maintain high performing cultures. |
| 1:23.1 | But above all this, I'm someone who just loves exploring how high performance works and most importantly, |
| 1:29.1 | how every one of us can take the lessons from our guests and apply them into our own world. |
| 1:37.0 | Well, I'm actually one of the rare UFC fighters that I'm aware of that will sit here |
| 1:42.7 | and look you in the eyes and talk about fear |
| 1:44.5 | because a lot of UFC fighters like to pretend they're not scared now. I basically spent my |
| 1:49.4 | life in gyms and backstage at events and in these changing rooms and listen, I'm yet to see |
| 1:56.7 | a person who isn't scared. But it's very rare that, like, you'll get a UFC fighter who will |
... |
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