What the UFC’s Heavyweight Champion’s Agreement with a Top Boxing Promoter Means for the Future
Earlier this week, UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall signed a new deal with top boxing promoter Eddie Hearn and his new Matchroom Talent Agency. Aspinall is the inaugural fighter signed to the agency. This move has been widely rumored and framed to be retaliatory as UFC boss Dana White signed one of Hearn’s old fighters, Connor Benn, to the recently launched Zuffa Boxing. The UFC Heavyweight Champion signed with Hearn’s agency because he trusts him and wants to build his brand, increase his value, and build and maintain a good reputation in and out of combat sports.
This agreement creates a path for Aspinall to switch to professional boxing if he desires. While White has publicly responded by saying that he has no issues with Hearn, we don’t know how his relationship with the UFC Heavyweight Champion has been affected. Only time will tell whether or not this could lead to another Francis ‘The Predator’ Ngannou situation. What is confirmed is that this agreement will not take Aspinall away from the UFC, at least right now. Aspinall still has one fight left on his UFC contract. Hearn will be representing the UFC Heavyweight Champion as his manager. Under his current contract, Aspinall can only fight outside the UFC if they approve of it. The UFC Heavyweight Champion’s father has also publicly stated that he wants to see his son professionally box after his time in the UFC is over.
It’s pretty clear that the UFC Heavyweight Champion is looking to generate and make as much money as possible in his prime. Aspinall’s UFC career has been a roller coaster ride of high and low points. He has yet to see the judges’ scorecards. Going into his Interim Heavyweight bout against Sergei Pavlovic, he had finished six of his seven fights, with five of those finishes coming in the first round. The UFC Heavyweight Champion won the Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship in 2023 to set up the super fight with then-Heavyweight Champion Jon ‘Bones’ Jones. Aspinall would wait nearly two years for the super fight, only for Jones to retire. Aspinall was then elevated as the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion in 2025. His first bout turned controversial with Ciryl ‘Bon Gamin’ Gane when Gane repeatedly poked Aspinall’s eyes, leading to a no-contest. Aspinall has since been through multiple surgeries and is looking to come back to the octagon as soon as possible. If the UFC Heavyweight Champion prioritizes money over everything else, we will see him jump from MMA to boxing. Boxing purses dwarf the purses that MMA fighters get. Fight fans hope to see the champ come back in his best form in what could be his last fight in the UFC. If that’s the case, the UFC’s Heavyweight Division would lose a lot of depth and rely on Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira to move up to the division.
