Chael Sonnen believes UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is caught in the middle of the Dana White-Eddie Hearn rivalry.
Matchroom Boxing’s Hearn recently signed Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC)Â for representation amid his tension with UFC CEO White. Aspinall was not happy with the way White reacted to the eye injuries he sustained in his no contest against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321.
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White entering the boxing space through Zuffa Boxing has resulted in several back-and-forths with Hearn, in which he went as far as saying he’d be willing to box him. Sonnen is afraid that Aspinall may be getting used as a pawn.
“One year ago, Tom was saying things like, ‘I’m the active champion. I don’t care about Jon Jones. I just care about the belt. If you can’t get him to the ring, take the belt off him, give it to me,'” Sonnen told Helen Yee. “We all supported that because Tom was completely correct. And now one year later, Tom is the one that appears to be holding out. Tom is the one to be saying, ‘Oh, I’ve got to sit down and re-look at these contracts.’
“I don’t blame this on Tom. This is the nature of the business. But I do fear that Tom is being used in a public fight between Eddie and Dana, and I don’t want Tom used like that. If you want to make money, fight. That’s the commodity, that’s how we make money, that’s how he’s always done it. But to sit out and to start making demands, that’s just not the Tom Aspinall that we dealt with a year ago.”
More: Joe Rogan reacts to Eddie Hearn signing Tom Aspinall, Dana White feud
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Hearn was in disbelief with Aspinall’s pay after taking a look at his contract and seeing what he made over his past several fights. The heavyweight division will move on while Aspinall recovers from double eye surgery when Alex Pereira takes on Ciryl Gane for the interim belt in the UFC Freedom 250 co-headliner on June 14.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC analyst: Tom Aspinall being used in Dana White-Eddie Hearn feud
