'Big' John McCarthy likens Tom Aspinall to problem-riddled Cain Velasquez

Tom Aspinall was considered by many to be a future champion at heavyweight before suffering an injury and being forced away from competition for a year. While it could just be a setback, 'Big' John McCarthy questioned whether the sport has another Cain Velasquez case on its hands.

The former champion is believed to be in the conversation for the greatest heavyweight of all-time talks but could have accomplished so much more in his career if it wasn't for injuries. Though a dominant presence in the UFC during his time, his inability to stay healthy robbed him of a lengthy career at the top.

While discussing Tom Aspinall's next fight, John McCarthy insisted that similar to Velasquez, injuries could derail the Brit's career at the elite level despite being touted as a future champion.

"Every time I look at Tom Aspinall, you know what I see? I see Cain Velasquez," said McCarthy. "I'm worried about him being injury-prone. It could be that he's not but you gotta figure, the knee injury that occurred was self-induced... For a highly-trained athlete to have that injury at that moment, you look and you got sh*t, that's crap luck. But was it?"

McCarthy added:

"Is he that guy that, because he trains really hard to get to that fight, that he comes to the point where he almost becomes brittle?... I'm seeing Cain Velasquez. All the talent in the world, but all of a sudden he starts to become injury-prone."

While his career can be considered a success in the octagon, Cain Velasquez could never escape his problems with injury. As his career neared an end, the AKA representative pulled out of more bouts than he competed in before making a three-year hiatus from the sport.

Check out 'Big' John McCarthy's heavyweight comparison in the video below:

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Like Cain Velasquez, does Tom Aspinall have a history of fights being canceled due to injury?

Excluding the knee injury which occurred in his most recent outing against Curtis Blaydes, Tom Aspinall isn't known for pulling out of fights due to being hurt.

Throughout his nine-year-long career, the powerhouse has seen six of his scheduled matchups fail to unfold, but it hasn't once been due to an injury to himself.

Opponent injuries, coronavirus, visa issues, and various promotions rebooking him in a different fight are the reasons for his aforementioned six bouts in the sport falling through.