In the thick of a brewing “Cold War” in boxing, this wasn’t played off as if circumstances weren’t a factor.
Eddie Hearn and Tom Aspinall only met for first time face-to-face on Wednesday. On Friday, the UFC heavyweight champion was unveiled as the inaugural signing of the Matchroom Talent Agency at Battersea Power Station, emanating the sort of voltage spike into the combat world that hadn’t been seen from the once-active Control Room A for about half a century.
Conor Benn’s defection to Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing, of course, had a hand in all this coming together, not least for the timing of the announcement. “An opportunity for a lot of noise,” said Hearn, who has been trading insults with the UFC chief in the two weeks since Benn’s shock Matchroom split. “If nothing had happened with Dana White and we made the announcement, it still would’ve been big. But it’s f***ing huge.”
Aspinall, however, is not simply the latest side-character in a spat between two of the fighting scene’s premier head honchos. It was something he looked to make sure of when hopped on the first Zoom call. “I think I said something along the lines of, ‘I don’t want to be in a d***-measuring competition with two grown men,’ or something like that,” Aspinall said, who has had his own issues with White in the fallout of his injury-marred first title defence last October. “This is not like point-scoring stuff for me. This is me wanting to get what I think I’m worth and if I can work with people who I like and they’re going to help me, I will absolutely take it.”
A key motivation for Aspinall making this alliance is pay. The undervaluing of fighters has become more pertinent than ever since Benn’s move to Zuffa, which will see him paid an alleged $15m for one co-main event fight against Regis Prograis, a former two-time super-lightweight champion who is long past his prime and is fighting outside of his natural weight category. These are contract terms that do not exist in the UFC, even for its top stars – as Aspinall is.
“When I talked through Tom Aspinall’s purses, I nearly fell off the f***ing chair,” Hearn remarked. “Because I know if that was our business, he’d be making ten times as much money.”
The Matchroom promoter wants to deliver better payouts to Aspinall and more UFC fighters, of whom Hearn says several have approached him looking to get in on the Talent Agency since Thursday’s announcement. Aspinall remains the priority, but there is scope for a knock-on effect for the entirety business as competitors wake up to their own worth.
But this isn’t just about money for Aspinall. The 32-year-old, who waited around for 20 months while Jon Jones held the heavyweight title hostage, saw his long-awaited maiden defence as undisputed champion end in disaster when Ciryl Gane poked both his eyes in the first round of their UFC 321 main event, rendering the Atherton hard-hitter unable to compete. What followed was a torrent of online abuse, while Dana White speculated in his post-fight press conference that Aspinall simply “didn’t want to continue”.
It was a huge slap in the face to Aspinall, whose injuries were so severe that has since required multiple surgeries to treat them. He revealed he’s finally back in the gym after a tough four months of recovery, but his confidence has taken an understandable hit. Another of Hearn’s objectives is clear: “We’ve got to bounce back from this and you’ve got to realise how big you are.”
Aspinall said: “How can your confidence not take a knock? You work your whole life for something, and someone can just spin it on you that they just didn’t want to carry on. I’ve had millions of fights, I’ve been fighting since I was eight years old – that is not the case.
“I need to work on that a little bit, and I feel like Eddie and the team are going to help with that. That’s why I’ve come with them.”
Already, Hearn is noticing a difference. “I haven’t said this to Tom, but I’ve noticed, even like from the call to the meeting to today, I’ve seen a completely different Tom Aspinall. It’s just like, ‘F***ing yeah!’ And that’s what I wanted him to feel like. You’ve got to feel like you’re the f***ing man, especially in this game.”
Aspinall has unfinished business in the UFC, though his affiliation with Matchroom has led to obvious questions about an eventual switch to boxing. It’s something Hearn explored the possibility of when first reaching out to the Aspinall camp. “I’ll be honest with you, those thoughts initially were about him boxing. Because there’s been a few rumblings, and I just thought, if he moves to boxing, it’s going to be huge and he’s going to make a lot of money.”
Those thoughts have for now been shelved, with Aspinall confirming he is still contracted with the UFC for two more fights – something he and Hearn respect. “We’ve got to do that first,” Aspinall said.
But despite giving what he branded as “the boring answer”, the door for Aspinall to emulate one Francis Ngannou and swap octagon for squared circle feels like it’s definitely been opened – even as he remained coy over the subject.
“We’re just going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it. We’ll see where we go after that,” Aspinall said.
“I’ve actually never said myself like, ‘I’m going to go boxing,” because I don’t know if it’s something that I want to do yet. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, I’m not sure.”
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