Eddie Hearn is hitting the ground running when it comes to managing Tom Aspinall’s career.
The veteran boxing promoter, who recently launched his own Matchroom Talent Agency, signed Aspinall as his first athlete with plans to handle all aspects of his career both inside and outside the UFC octagon. Hearn admits he was a little shocked at how Aspinall was carrying himself when they first met but he felt like after announcing their partnership and the plans he had in mind for the UFC heavyweight champion, things definitely changed.
“Love Tom Aspinall,” Hearn told IFL.tv. “Because he has never been spoiled and he’s never really experienced what he should experience, which is the best treatment in the world and the feeling of ‘you are a superstar.’ I think he felt like that last week.
“That translates into the gym. That translates into performances and that translates in the way that you carry yourself. I saw that change over the four or five days of meeting and getting to know Tom.”
While Hearn isn’t expected to start fight negotiations with the UFC any time soon with Aspinall still healing up from double eye-surgery from his most recent outing against Ciryl Gane, he’s already hard at work when it comes to sponsorships and endorsements.
Hearn claims that he’s already got deals in place that should make Aspinall a lot of money — even more than he made for one of his fights in the UFC.
“We are closing in on a number of deals for Tom Aspinall,” Hearn revealed. “Commercial deals where I would say UFC fighters have got to understand the job that we’ll be doing. Tom Aspinall, having been with Matchroom Talent Agency for what will be 10 days to two weeks, he will make more money in commercial deals than he did for one of his recent fights.
“Within 10 days of working with Matchroom. Once of his recent fights, in the last four fights. So they’re leaving a lot of money on the table.”
Just to note, Aspinall’s past four fights in the UFC include three title bouts and a first-round finish over Marcin Tybura back in 2023. Following that win, Aspinall accepted a short-notice interim title fight against Sergei Pavlovich before delivering another first-round knockout.
Hearn didn’t disclose which one of Aspinall’s fight purses he was comparing to his plans for a sponsorship or endorsement deal. He did say that he believes all UFC fighters need to be better suited at taking advantage of opportunities outside the octagon, which was an area Hearn identified immediately as a concern to address for Aspinall.
“Forget how well or how not well they’re paid because that’s a big debate at the moment,” Hearn said. “That stuff has to be dealt with but there’s stuff that you can control. Take the bull by the horns. Make yourself a bigger star. Look at other opportunities outside of the octagon. Bring revenue to the table. Raise the profile. Drive commercial deals.
“It’s not difficult for us to do because we’re the best in the game at all that kind of stuff and Tom is a big star. So you’re going to see a couple of announcements over the next couple of days commercially that we’re going to be working with Tom.”
Hearn added that he’s definitely planning on signing more athletes to his Matchroom Boxing Talent Agency but promised he won’t be managing any boxers out of a conflict of interest because he’s a promoter in that sport.
As far as Aspinall’s future goes, Hearn said first things first is getting the UFC heavyweight champion healthy again and then he’ll start eyeing his next fight against the winner of the upcoming co-main event at the UFC White House card.
“Looking forward to him getting back into training,” Hearn said. “Obviously you’ve got that fight between and [Alex] Pereira and [Ciryl] Gane and he has to fight the winner.”
Read the full article here
