Outside Source
Aspinall’s relationship with White has been strained since his first heavyweight title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 320 this past October. The fight ended in a no contest after Gane eye poked Aspinall, leaving him unable to continue. Dana White hinted that he was unimpressed by Aspinall’s decision to stop fighting, saying that the Englishman didn’t look like he wanted to be in there with Gane. Aspinall didn’t hide his disappointment with White’s comments. While Aspinall underwent multiple surgeries, White further downplayed the injury, saying they were likely injections.
Aspinall (15-3) recently escalated things by signing with the management of Eddie Hearn, considered a longtime rival of White. Hearn has since taken multiple digs at Aspinall’s UFC contract, calling it a disgrace. Sonnen says he was supporting Aspinall when “Honey Badger” was calling for Jon Jones to be stripped of the heavyweight title due to inactivity. However, Sonnen now sees Aspinall stalling the division by reconsidering his contract with the UFC. The UFC alum is concerned about Aspinall being used in the spat between White and Hearn.
‘If You Want to Make Money, Fight’
“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, give it to me.’ We all supported that because Tom was completely correct,” Sonnen told Helen Yee. “And now one year later Tom is the one that appears to be holding out. Tom is the one to be saying, ‘Oh, I gotta sit down and re-look at these contracts.’ I don’t blame this one 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.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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