Dana White insists that he’s unfazed by Eddie Hearn signing up his heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
The UFC boss was in attendance for today’s UFC 326 pre-fight press conference, and was quizzed about Aspinall signing together with his new-found rival Hearn. It got here as a shock today when the Matchroom boss announced a brand new talent agency, with the UFC heavyweight champion as his sole signing.
Hearn and White – once close friends who shared regular visits in Las Vegas and London – at the moment are bitter enemies for the reason that UFC supremo has come into boxing. And it escalated to a brand new level when White’s recent Zuffa Boxing outfit snagged Conor Benn from under Hearn.
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Dana White seems unfazed by Eddie Hearn and Tom Aspinall deal
During today’s press conference, it was natural that certainly one of the primary questions asked to Dana White could be about Tom Aspinall’s big announcement. The Mac Life’s Oscar Willis ended up asking, and it seems from his response that the UFC boss won’t have an issue working with Eddie Hearn.
He noted that he has worked with managers whom he dislikes lots greater than Hearn, telling Willis: “We don’t have any issues with Eddie. They’ll get whoever they need to represent them – Tito Ortiz used to represent people and we got it done!”
White and Ortiz have an infamously bitter feud dating back to when the UFC boss was the legendary ex-champion’s manager before taking on the promotion. They still seem like at odds, and their rivalry evidently cuts much deeper than the confrontation between White and Hearn.
Dana White admitted he needed to talk to Tom Aspinall in earlier interview
While it is usually expected for White to stay coy during pre-fight press conferences – particularly provided that he has a crowd of fans loudly cheering his every word – he gave a more measured response to Aspinall’s many issues with the UFC in an interview released today on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
The interview was recorded before news of Hearn and Aspinall’s deal went public. It was released after the very fact and still provides a captivating insight into the present issues that exist between the heavyweight champion and his promoter.
White was keen to correct Morgan when he referred to Aspinall’s title reign up to now tense. But he admitted the pair needed to speak after conversations only between ‘the corporate’ and him.
“Tom and I obviously have to talk,” White said. “Him and his dad got here out recently and said they felt like – I don’t know the way they said it – but that I had kind of s— on him in the way in which that I had spoken about his eye injury.
“That was absolutely positively not the case, Tom Aspinall is a man that I respect, he’s been great to work with, never once did I query his injury or speak negatively about him. I said ‘I feel he’s okay, and I feel he’s going to be good’ and so they got here out and said ‘no that isn’t 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 used to be knocking him ultimately.
“I absolutely and positively didn’t and wouldn’t, I like him very much and respect him. I’ve never had an issue with Tom Aspinall.”