Matchroom boss names second UFC fighter for potential signing.
The news yesterday that Eddie Hearn had signed UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall to the newly-launched Matchroom Talent Agency was the cause of much surprise.
Of course, in recent times, there have been some merging of players and the games they play. Chiefly, Dana White has fully entered boxing with his new Zuffa Boxing league that aims to clean up the sport and eliminate its myriad of issues.
Many have doubted if the UFC boss is the man to do it, and in the short time that White has been in boxing, he has already ruffled more than a few feathers.
These feathers would belong to some of the sport’s biggest promotional names in Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya, both of whom have made their feelings abundantly clear on White’s grand ambitions.
In particular, Hearn has engaged in an online war of words with White that has seen insults from both sides and recently even involved a fight offer from the MMA head honcho.
What has impacted Hearn more than any of the verbals, though, is Zuffa’s signing of Conor Benn, a fighter who Hearn was believed to have had a close relationship with over the years.
Hearn’s signing of Aspinall has been seen by many as a form of payback, and it may be that the Matchroom chairman isn’t done with signing fighters who made their name in the UFC.
In an interview earlier today with iFL TV, Hearn was informed that former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is reportedly a free agent, to which Hearn replied, “I think we’ll probably reach out to Francis. I mean, I’ve had…I wouldn’t say a dozen, but I’ve had over half a dozen quite big-name UFC fighters contact me in the last 12 hours, and I’m not gonna sign all of ’em, but they’re fascinated by this because they feel like they’re not gettin’ what they deserve, and that will be the job of the agency to do that.”
Signing two UFC heavyweight champions would be a big statement on Hearn’s part, and it would deepen the rivalry that exists between him and Dana White.
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