Isaac Newton’s third law of motion, summarized, states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
UFC President and CEO Dana White discovered that on Thursday.
Barely a week after Zuffa Boxing signed Connor Benn away from Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, Hearn has scooped up UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, signing on to be the mixed martial arts star’s manager under his Matchroom Talent Agency.
“Welcome to the team UFC heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall,” Hearn wrote on social media while announcing the move. “Time to get what’s yours.”
Benn’s signing was a $15 million U.S., one-fight deal, it was later revealed, with Turki Alalshikh, one of Zuffa’s partners in their boxing venture, footing the bill. Still, White went after Hearn when he bemoaned the signing, asking reporters if there was a “bigger p*ssy” than Eddie Hearn.
Rather than carry on the war of words, it appears Hearn has opted to speak through his actions. Signing the UFC’s reigning heavyweight champion is a “shots fired” sort of moment that could make contract negotiations for Aspinall’s next fight very interesting, or very ugly.
Aspinall (15-3, 1NC) has not fought since October, when a nasty eye poke by Ciryl Gane ended the UFC 321 main event prematurely, resulting in a No Contest. Prior to that, Aspinall had defeated the likes of Curtis Blaydes, Serghei Pavlovich, and Alexander Volkov among others.
Following the Gane fight, White and Aspinall seemingly clashed over the eye poke, with the UFC exec saying at the night’s post-fight press conference “If I want to put together a fight, I can’t make people fight. You definitely can’t make somebody continue if they feel they’ve been injured. Only Tom knows what happened. Could he see? Couldn’t he see? Could he continue? Only he knows that.”
Aspinall underwent double eye surgery to help repair the damage sustained in the bout with Gane. As of February, his vision still had not returned to normal.
