The story of Aaron Aby, the Welsh fighter who beat cancer and is eyeing UFC move – Wales Online

"Setbacks are a part of life. It's about bouncing back from them."

In 2017, after a three-fight winning streak, MMA fighter Aaron Aby went under the knife wondering if he'd wake up again.

Aaron was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer and required surgery to remove a 15cm tumour from his stomach.

Even those operating on him feared the worst.

"My parents were told to write my will," he remembers. "It had spread quite a lot and I went in for an operation basically not knowing what the outcome was going to be.

"Negative thoughts come into your head, but I always used to say to myself that I was never going to quit. I will accept whatever happens but I will always fight until the last chance.

"I think that's what I did."

Now, four years on, the flyweight is not only cancer-free, he's aiming for the very top, having signed for Cage Warriors, one of the biggest names in mixed martial arts.

Welsh talents like Jack Shore, Jack Marshman and Brett Johns have all passed through the proverbial doors of Cage Warriors, before going on to the glitz and glamour of UFC.

The 32-year-old from Wrexham, predictably, seems pretty keen on following in their footsteps.

A recent win over former world champion Samir Faiddine, in only his second for Cage Warriors, has handed the Welshman a useful springboard heading into the coming year, with a title belt surely on the agenda soon.

"The UFC's always got to be a goal," he adds. "If not, I've just got to keep winning, keep making my name relevant and keep working towards that Cage Warriors title.

"One of the reasons for taking the last fight is that he's a former world champion and there was a lot to gain from taking the fight and winning. Hopefully it's put me back into that title contention."

Winning a belt would be an impressive achievement on its own, particularly after such a traumatic cancer scare, but Aaron's rise is arguably all the more remarkable given that he has cystic fibrosis, a disorder of the cell membrane which mainly affects the lungs and digestive system.

The condition leaves people with a low life expectancy and often with reduced lung capacity, meaning they are frequently discouraged from taking part in rigorous physical activities.

But for much of his early school years, Aaron never realised he was any different to most of his classmates.

"For me growing up, I used to think everyone had to have tablets before they had food!" he said. "As I got older and started learning more about it, learning more about my situation.

"In secondary school, I was in biology class and we were covering cystic fibrosis. The teacher was saying that the life expectancy of someone with the condition was 16.

"I remember everyone looking at me in the class. and thinking I had two years to live. What was I doing in school? I should go out and do something."

For Aby, sport was almost a way to prove his, well, normality, and simultaneously proved an effective tonic for a condition that so many believed would deprive him of his adulthood.

It was his parents who seemed the most determined to ensure Aaron wasn't defined by his condition, particularly his father Julian, who had previously played rugby for Sale and St Helen's.

"When I was diagnosed with CF as a kid, my parents were given a booklet and told to go away and read it," he added.

"It was all about the low life expectancy, saying I wouldn't be able to take part in physical activity. In and out of school. Not being able to get a pension because they don't live long enough. Won't get married.

"They read the booklet, ripped it up and threw it in the bin and said that wasn't going to be my life.

"I remember when I went to secondary school, they put me in the disabled group for PE, meaning I couldn't do things like the bleep test.

"My dad then managed to get me to have it. We had the 12-minute run, the Cooper Test, and I ended up beating everyone."

Aaron further proved his early doubters wrong by going on to become a formidable cross-country runner, becoming one of the best in the country for his age group.

But it was football that really captured his imagination.

As a youngster, he signed for Shrewsbury Town and even captained their youth team.

Between the ages of 14 and 17, Aaron emerged as one of Welsh football's most promising talents, and even ended up rubbing shoulders with the likes of Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen.

"I was always used to playing with good players," he says. "Something that would always stick out was how hard they worked, but I was always working harder.

"Neil Taylor wasn't perhaps the most gifted of players, but he was the first at training and the last to leave. I remember Rambo would have an engine for days on him. It's good to see these guys go on."

Amusingly, the most enduring memory Aaron has of that time doesn't really include any of those household names.

"I remember scoring an own goal against Slovakia when the ball hit me in the face," he laughs. "I always say that not many people can say they've scored for Slovakia, but being a kid and getting to travel all over Europe playing football was just great."

Aaron was eventually released by Shrewsbury. He was picked up on a part-time basis by hometown club Wrexham, where he worked with a certain Steve Cooper.

"Cooper was great," he says.

"I still see him in Wrexham every now and again. I see him running through the village. My dad still speaks to him. Even when I was a kid you knew he was a great coach. I will always support whatever club he's at. So I'm keeping an eye on Nottingham Forest and I'm hoping they do well."

But while many of the colleagues from his football days have gone on to big things, Aaron insists he doesn't ponder what might have been, although he still speaks to former team-mate Neil Taylor.

"I don't regret anything of what I've done," he says. "I get happy for them when I see them doing well. You might in hindsight always wonder, but like I said, I'm proud of where I'm at and where I've got to.

"MMA was an individual sport and after what happened at Shrewsbury and having to have to have someone to pick you in football.

"One of the funny things was that MMA used to make me feel more tired than football, which I liked. I used to love the techniques and the philosophy of fighting and the principles behind it. It just started off once a week, then became twice a week, then I was doing it every day."

After so many ups and downs, it's perhaps easy to see why life in the cage, where Aaron is, to all intents and purposes, the master of his own destiny, holds so much appeal.

More to the point, it turns out he was pretty good at it.

After turning pro in 2013, Aaron began to make a sizeable impact on the British MMA scene, but while on camp for a fight in 2017, he realised something wasn't right.

"I was on a three-fight win streak," he said. "The symptoms actually started during the last fight camp. I was doing well.

"On a big show. There's never good timing for these things. I had testicular pain. Pain in my back. Pain in my stomach.

"I had gone to see a doctor during the camp as I thought maybe I'd taken a hard stomach shot or a low blow.

"I went away and it just kept coming back, so I decided that after the fight I was going to have to get it looked at properly."

The resulting cancer diagnosis gave Aaron six months to live.

But, incredibly, while in the depths of chemotherapy, his career continued to progress, and he was approached by Cage Warriors.

"They just said there'll be a pair of yellow gloves waiting for you when you come out the other end," he remembers.

It's a chance that Aaron intends to take full advantage of, although he hasn't emerged completely unscathed.

"My lung function is back up to about 85 per cent at the moment, which is good," he added.

"I've fought with it at 60 per cent. I'm feeling good and feel like my lungs are good at the moment."

I can't help but wonder how good he'd be if his lungs were at full capacity, but to do so would be to patronise his ability.

And, he hopes his story can help to inspire members of the younger generation, some of whom may also feel that cystic fibrosis has robbed them of a chance to excel on the sporting stage.

"Every time I fight, I get messages," he says.

"It's mainly parents, saying that they've got kids with CF and that seeing me has helped me explain that their life is going to be different.

"There's a mother I spoke to the other day, her kid's the first English athlete with cystic fibrosis to get on the boxing team.

"She messaged me two years ago asking if she should let her son box. Now he's on the England team.

"I'm fortunate that I get to do what I love every day.

"Life's tough and it'll never be plain sailing, but it can be a gift if you live it to its full potential."

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The story of Aaron Aby, the Welsh fighter who beat cancer and is eyeing UFC move - Wales Online