Dana White issues statement after Tom Aspinall signs shock deal with Eddie Hearn
Dana White has responded to Tom Aspinall signing a deal with Eddie Hearn amid his beef with the boxing promoter.
The rivalry between White and Hearn has escalated since the UFC boss' venture into boxing, where he fronts Zuffa Boxing.
Their relationship has turned sour following a series of exchanges, with White branding Hearn a 'p**sy' following his reaction to him acquiring Conor Benn to an exclusive deal.
Well, Hearn has made his own stunning acquisition by recruiting UFC heavyweight champion Aspinall to his new talent agency.
Advert
Hearn launched Matchroom Talent Agency on Thursday, with Aspinall announced as its first client.
At the UFC 326 pre-fight press conference, White was asked about Aspinall joining Hearn's management company to which he claimed he has no 'issues' with the Matchroom chief.
"We don’t have any issues with Eddie," he said. "They can get whoever they want to represent them - Tito Ortiz used to represent people and we got it done!"
Dana White: 'Tom Aspinall and I obviously need to talk'
White also spoke to Piers Morgan before the news broke of Aspinall signing a deal with Hearn.
He entertained a boxing fight with Hearn to settle their beef before claiming he and Aspinall 'need to talk'.
"Listen, if Eddie wants to box, we can box," he said on Piers Morgan Uncensored. "I don't think Eddie wants to box. Back in the day, I used to box with all the guys. Boxers and UFC guys. I have boxed."
Things turned a bit frosty between White and Aspinall following the no contest against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321.
Team Aspinall didn't appreciate White's comments following the fight after he insinuated the Briton quit.
The UFC president and CEO added: "Tom and I obviously need to talk. Him and his dad came out recently and said they felt like - I don’t know how they said it - but that I had sort of sh*t on him in the way that I had spoken about his eye injury.
"That was absolutely positively not the case, Tom Aspinall is a guy that I respect, he’s been great to work with, never once did I question his injury or speak negatively about him. I said ‘I think he’s okay, and I think he’s going to be good’ and they came out and said ‘no that is not the case’.
"He said, 'I haven’t even talked to Dana I don’t know why he would even say that', but obviously my medical team is talking to him. That was what I had thought, but they thought that I was knocking him in some way.
"I absolutely and positively didn’t and wouldn’t, I like him very much and respect him. I’ve never had a problem with Tom Aspinall.”
Aspinall is still recovering from the nasty eye poke he suffered in his championship bout against Gane last October.
Topics: Tom Aspinall, Eddie Hearn, Dana White, UFC
Nasir Jabbar