Tom
Aspinall’s immediate professional future is looking murkier by
the day.
Aspinall’s new manager, Eddie Hearn, has been vehemently
criticising his current
Ultimate Fighting Championship contract. Hearn now claims that
he won’t let the UFC heavyweight champion fight under such
terms.
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While Aspinall (15-3) is sidelined with an eye injury, Alex
Pereira and Ciryl Gane
will compete for the interim heavyweight title at
UFC White House: Freedom 250 on June 14. The winner of that
fight is expected to meet Aspinall in a title unifier. However,
Hearn claims he will try his best not to let Aspinall accept that
fight unless a new deal is reached. Hearn claims Aspinall’s current
UFC contract would earn him 1/50th of the amount of money he would
generate in a title unifier against Pereira or Gane.
“I’m not gonna let Tom Aspinall fight for the kind of money that’s
in his contract,” Hearn
told Bloody Elbow. “To be involved in a fight against Pereira
or Gane, for literally 1/50th of the revenue of that show. F**k
that. I won’t let him do it. It’s time that those UFC fighters
stopped being mugs and started understanding that these people are
taking advantage of them. They deserve better… My advice to Tom
Aspinall would be, ‘Don’t you dare take that fight for the money
that’s in your contract… you nearly lost your eyesight, you had
four operations in your eyes, and you wanna go back and fight for
virtually nothing?’… I will do everything I can to not allow
it.”
Aspinall has been having a falling out with the UFC since his first
title defense against Gane ended in a no-contest at UFC 320
last October. Dana White seemed disappointed with Aspinall after
the champion chose not to continue with a compromised vision due to
a double eye poke by Gane in the opening round. Aspinall signed
with the management of White’s longtime rival Hearn soon after.