LONDON — Eddie Hearn has said he wants to help Tom Aspinall find his mojo again after signing a business deal with the UFC heavyweight champion.
Aspinall (15-3) announced he had signed with Hearn’s newly-formed Matchroom Talent Agency on Thursday, meaning the British promoter will help guide his career and business interests.
Aspinall hasn’t fought since October against Ciryl Gane, when the fight was stopped prematurely after Aspinall was poked in the eye on multiple occasions. He has since undergone surgery on his eyes.
Hearn said upon speaking to Aspinall for the first time last week, be thought the UFC champ lacked the spark usually associated with a fighter of his stature.
“Sometimes when I say it … I don’t want him to get offended by this, when I spoke to him for the first time it was like I was talking to someone who didn’t realise who he was or what he was,” Hearn told a news conference on Friday.
“Which is a massive star. A massive global star, one of the biggest in fight sports.
“Effectively, the baddest man on the planet. Sometimes a narrative can get spun on you which one: deflates your mojo and two: just makes you feel like ‘I don’t really want to do it anymore.’
“When I spoke to him and he started talking about his injuries, the multiple surgeries, it was like: ‘mate, we’ve got to bounce back from this and you’ve got to realise how big you are.’
“I see a man that’s determined to get back in there and, I don’t want to say prove, he doesn’t need to prove, he’s fought everyone who’s been in front of him.”
Aspinall said he is still receiving advice from his doctors but has returned to some light training and wants to be back in the Octagon as soon as possible.
The 32-year-old said he hopes by bringing Hearn into the fold, he can take his commercial value to the next level, especially given as he has been forced to sit on the sidelines recently.
“As athletes, we’ve got a short window of opportunity where we can make a lot of money. With what’s gone in my career, my recent injuries, I want to make as much money as possible. I want to set my family up for generations,” Aspinall said.
“It’s been f—— tough. It’s been hard to be in the position that I’ve been in and a lot of people thinking what they thin about you. I’m obviously looking to comeback from that.”
Aspinall is still signed with the UFC and Hearn has said there are no plans to move into boxing.
However, Hearn’s rivalry with UFC boss Dana White — how now also heads up the Zuffa Boxing promotion — has intensified in recent weeks. White and Zuffa signed British fighter Conor Benn, who Matchroom had tipped as their biggest star of the future.
While there has been a stream of verbal back-and-forths in the media between the two, Aspinall’s alliance with Hearn marks a big win Matchroom, who will now be dealing with the UFC and White with regards to Aspinall, one of the biggest stars in the sport.
