Eddie Hearn is using Dana White’s own words against him.
The UFC CEO recently snatched Conor Benn from Matchroom Boxing then celebrated Hearn’s devastated reaction. It didn’t take long for Hearn to fire back, scoring a talent agency contract with UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, who remains at odds with White over this headlining debacle.
“One thing that’s actually stuck out with me from his comments is when Conor Benn signed with Zuffa,” Hearn told iFL TV. “He said, ‘Eddie should want fighters to earn as much as possible.’ Right? Do you remember that? ‘He should be happy for Conor Benn, that he’s making more money.’ So I’ve been thinking about that line, and I think that I’ve got an idea. I would like Dana White to release Tom Aspinall from his UFC contract, and I will guarantee Dana White, in writing, that I will pay Tom Aspinall a minimum — probably five times more — but a minimum of three times more what Dana White is paying him. And I think for a hardworking, working class man that deserves every penny he can get because of what he puts his body through, and we’ve seen that recently, that Dana White should be happy for Tom Aspinall to receive that deal. So I would like to propose that.”
Hearn is also willing to “walk away” from the Benn legal situation if White agrees to cut Aspinall loose. Hearn claims Benn borrowed more than $400,000 against his fight purse ahead of his Chris Eubank fight in October 2022, a bout that never came to fruition because Benn failed a pair of drug tests.
“I’m looking at this kid, Tom Aspinall, I’m looking at what combat sports athletes are making around the world, and I’ll be honest with you, it’s absolutely disgusting what they’re paying him and things need to change,” Hearn added. “I’ll trade that up. I’ll walk away from all their problems they’ve got on the Conor Benn legal situation if they release Tom Aspinall. And I will, in writing, it will be five or six times more money he’ll be making, but I will put in writing that Tom Aspinall will make a minimum of three times more than he will under his current contract. There you go. And then we can all celebrate a great athlete, a great fighter, and someone that deserves, like Dana said, to make as much money as he can from the sport.”
Aspinall, 33, is expected to fight the winner of this interim championship showdown later this year.
So many interim titles over the years, just call it a number 1 contender fight and stop having unification fights. The champ was clearly hurt and hasn’t been medically cleared (that I know of) but will fight again. Title fights do sell cards but you also trade-off the value of your champions if they are replaced so quick.
1 title per weight class, strip the champ after 6 months to 1 year of no fights or wait longer.
Also, BMF title? I love how the BMF on the planet is always half the size of some real killers. That sucker needs to be made open weight or dropped completely to never be mentioned again.
Egg reads this between $1million hands of blackjack.
Hearn is so pussy hurt. He is giving Dana a run for being a bigger emotional bitch.
Honestly, letting Tom go would be a great idea. He’s rarely fighting and his eyes are jacked up. If he will sign a release and move on,
What a fucking joke. I was on Aspinall’s side in the beginning, but fuck him. Dude just doesn’t fight, never lived up to the hype, has a paper belt, is probably the most boring guy on the roster.
Sure, Jones fucked him over, but he still sat on his ass for 1.5 years in his prime. Anybody waiting an extended period to keep “their spot” can kick rocks.
Sure, Gane gouged his eyes out, but now he’s pretty much gonna be off for another year total and that’s if the UFC doesn’t release him.
He needs to just go. I’m tired of the HW belt bullshit. Aspinall promised to be the most active champ in history and now he wants to take his ball and go home. Fuck em.
If you haven’t even completed a full fight in 2.5 years, can’t be mad people stop giving a shit about you.
I’m not sure he was factoring having his eyeballs three knuckle finger fucked by Cereal Gone into this equation.
He promised to be the most active champ in history and now he’s leaving (or trying to) even though he’s extremely close to being cleared medically for competition. At this point, the eye poke doesn’t even factor in - he’s going back on his word to the fans and trying to switch sports. He’s not leaving BECAUSE of the eye pokes. He’s leaving because he doesn’t like UFC management and wants more money. It’s not like he can’t ever compete again because his eyes are destroyed. It’s a big middle finger to everyone that defended him.
Aspinall repeatedly asked for fights. Said he wanted to stay busy. Fuckwad Dana kept saying “we’ll figure it out” and kept waiting for Jones. Then when he finally gets a fight gets eye fucked brutally and has to sit due to injury. I feel for the guy but definitely hasn’t had the best PR. But in no way did he ‘sit out’. He was effectively benched by Dana looking for the Jones fight
Yeah, but he was specifically asking for a title unification bout with or without Jones. Don’t get me wrong, Jones was/is a HUGE piece of shit and largely responsible for Aspinall’s inactivity, but Aspinall wasn’t pushing for fights with other contenders as far as I know. He was pushing for a title unification bout. That effectively tied the UFC’s hands. They either had to strip Jones or get the fight done. Perhaps they thought they were close several times only for Jones to fuck it up.
I did hear Aspinall say on multiple occasions in his own Youtube videos “I just wanna fight”, however, I never heard him specifically say “I just wanna fight ANYONE” and I never heard him call out any other top contender than Jones. So, at face value, it looks like “Oh, Aspinall really just wants to fight and hates being inactive”, but behind the scenes, it’s probably more likely that he kept pushing for a title unification bout.
Now, that’s his right and he earned that spot, but at the end of the day, he was still inactive for 1.5 years over all that bullshit and as a fan, that’s really all I care about. Dude wasn’t fighting. I care about active fighters.
Now he’s close to being cleared and wants to leave the sport completely. He’s being a little bitch cause he’s got all these boxing assholes in his ear telling him he can make more money elsewhere. Maybe he can and if he can, good for him and his family. But that is contradictory to everything he’s said so far in his career and conflicts with his promise to be the most active champion in UFC history.
How many top heavyweights has Dana lost over the years?
Definitely Ngannou, but who else? I know he almost lost Couture while he was champ due to the legal bullshit, but he eventually came back.
I’m enjoying watching this Hearn/Dana drama unfold.
What about Arlovski, Sylvia, Barnett, kinda Jones too to retirement even though he’s really not retired and still angling for fights.
Fuck it. Let him go at this point.
I like the guy but sorry he’s not even close to the money and issues he created. Let him go, he may have one semi big fight then will pretty much be a “what if” past mma fighter a decade from now.
All we really want are guys who will constantly fucking fight. And yes UFC, YOU are going to have to pay them.
Arlovski hasn’t really been a top HW for quite some time. Sylvia left when he was ranked #5 or #6, but look how he performed after leaving. He really wasn’t a top HW anymore despite the ranking. Barnett had USADA issues both times he left.
Lol JJ has been angling for fights for years he had no intention in taking. At this point he’s just keeping his name out there for the few sponsors he does have left.
I dont see him ever fighting anything close to high level mma again. He might can get a bag is 2 with some MVP freakshow fight but that’s about it.