Few fighters represent British MMA pride like Tom Aspinall, the 32-year-old powerhouse who now stands as the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion. Known for his lightning-quick finishes with six of his eight UFC wins coming before the halfway point of the first round, Aspinall’s rise to the top has been nothing short of meteoric. But behind the knockouts and titles lies a man deeply connected to his roots, his culture, and the old-school fighting traditions that shaped him.

In the lead-up to his first undisputed title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321, fans want to know: what role do his nationality, ethnicity, and faith play in the life of Britain’s heavyweight king? So, without wasting too much time, let’s dig deeper into the story behind the champ!

What is Tom Aspinall’s ethnicity?

Tom Aspinall was born on April 11, 1993, to Tracy and Andy Aspinall in Salford, United Kingdom. Being raised in Atherton, Greater Manchester, Aspinall is of British descent and white ethnicity, and he is a fluent English speaker.

However, some fans believe he’s Polish because of his fluency in the language. This was evident in a viral video from last year with Marcin Tybura, where Aspinall surprised everyone by speaking Polish during a stare-down.

In the video, Aspinall could be heard saying, “You’re not fat anymore. What happened?… Have you been training?… I hope so.” The reason behind Tom Aspinall’s Polish fluency lies in his personal life. His wife, Justyna Aspinall, hails from Poland, and they have 3 sons together. In a previous interview, he expressed a strong connection to Poland because of his wife and their half-Polish children.

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Aspinall grew up in a martial arts household. His father, Andy, was one of Britain’s first jiu-jitsu black belts and an early pioneer in the UK MMA scene. He recognized his son’s talent at a young age, even giving up a successful IT career to open a local jiu-jitsu school so Tom could train full-time.

In an interview with talkSPORT, Andy Aspinall shared, “I was a contractor for a long time making good money and then I was an IT manager. 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.”

But the roots of Aspinall’s toughness trace even further back, to stories of old-school fighting and a little-known gypsy lineage he’s recently reconnected with.

Does Tom Aspinall have Gypsy heritage? His traveler roots explained

In 2024, ahead of his fight against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304, Aspinall surprised fans by revealing that he was drawing inspiration from gypsy fighting traditions. Speaking on The MMA Hour, he described how he’d been incorporating techniques from Irish Traveler bare-knuckle boxers — particularly from Big Joe Joyce, a legendary fighter featured in the documentary Knuckle.

Aspinall stated, “Have you ever seen the documentary Knuckle? It’s a documentary about traveling communities in the UK, Ireland. There’s a guy on there, Big Joe Joyce, an old traveling legend. And Big Joe Joyce reveals a few gypsy methods for getting ready for a fight.”

In a mix of tradition and toughness, Aspinall recreated the training scenes from the film as he further shared, “And I wanted to resort back to bit of gypsy heritage that I’ve got. So I thought right, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna make a little ring of hay bales… When it gets to about 4 a.m., I get my alarm on, I go outside, do a little bit of shadow boxing with the hay bales. And then I do the old traveller method of dipping your knuckles in petrol for about 20 minutes as the sun’s coming up. And that hardens your knuckles.”

Whether these stories stem from myth, heritage, or both, they show Tom Aspinall’s appreciation for the grit and resilience that define working-class British fighters. Still, while his heritage and culture shape his identity, there’s one aspect of Aspinall’s life he keeps deliberately quiet

 Is Tom Aspinall religious? What faith does he follow?

When it comes to religion, Tom Aspinall prefers privacy over publicity. Despite his growing fame, there’s little to no public record of his religious beliefs or affiliations. He’s never spoken about faith in interviews or on social media, suggesting he keeps that part of his life out of the spotlight. 

So, is Tom Aspinall of gypsy descent? Possibly, and if so, it’s a heritage he embraces with pride and humor, using its fighting traditions to stay grounded in his roots. Born British, married into Polish culture, and raised by a father who sacrificed everything for his dreams, Aspinall embodies a blend of heritage and heart that few fighters can match!