Bashing the UFC’s treatment of its fighters is nothing new for Eddie Hearn, but since signing Tom Aspinall to his athletic talent agency in March, it has certainly ramped up as he advises the heavyweight champion on his next move.
Aspinall has been out of the octagon since last October when he found himself on the receiving end of multiple illegal eye pokes courtesy of Ciryl Gane. The inadvertent, yet damaging, illegal strikes from Gane resulted in the UFC 321 main event match being declared a no contest, sidelining Aspinall and putting the top of the heavyweight division in limbo. This was to be the Englishman’s first test as the new heavyweight champion, after spending a prolonged time with interim status until the retirement of former titleholder Jon Jones.
During Aspinall’s ongoing time off because of the injury, he met with Hearn and signed with Matchroom Talent Agency, where the longtime boxing promoter advises athletes and fighters on how to best plan their route through the industry. Hearn, who has been a longtime critic of UFC CEO Dana White’s business practices, touched on Aspinall’s situation this week, expressing that the UFC is ‘taking advantage’ of their talent, and he hopes to influence change in a positive direction.
“I’m not going to let Tom Aspinall fight for the kind of money that’s in his contract,” Hearn told reporters. “To be involved in a fight against Pereira or Gane for literally 1/50th of the revenue of that show, f— that. I won’t let him do it. It’s time those UFC fighters stop being mugs and start to understand that these people are taking advantage of them. They deserve better.”