Do not expect Eddie Hearn to take leg kicks from elite MMA fighters anytime soon.
UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall posted a new vlog on his YouTube channel where he proposed kicking Hearn’s leg for promotion. The Matchroom Boxing boss made a hard pass and instead had Callum Ruane, Matchroom’s global partnership lead, take the leg kick.
When asked why he wouldn’t accept Aspinall’s challenge, Hearn made his stance quite clear.
“Because I’ve got a brain,” Hearn said. “These people, what? Are they idiots or something? You’re gonna let the UFC world heavyweight champion kick me on the leg? I’m not even getting paid for it.”
When told he’d be able to decide how intense the kick would be, Hearn was having none of it.
“I don’t give a [expletive],” Hearn responded. “I’m not having 10 percent. You want to give me a couple hundred grand or a million? I’ll do it. I’m not getting a broken snapped crucial again, because that one’s been snapped.”
Hearn and Aspinall became business partners amid the heavyweight champion’s public gripes with Dana White and UFC. Aspinall has linked up with Matchroom’s talent agency for commercial deals. The partnership was also made in hopes of boosting Aspinall’s mainstream appeal.
Hearn has insisted that the goal isn’t to pull Aspinall away from UFC, but to enhance his visibility and help him earn substantially more money. Hearn has also claimed that a slew of big UFC names have contacted Matchroom in hopes of scoring their own talent agency contract.
The deal between Aspinall and Matchroom was announced amid an intense war of words between Hearn and White. Zuffa Boxing recently snagged Conor Benn, who had been working with Hearn for a decade.
Would you take a leg kick from Tom Aspinall without getting paid for it? Tell us in the comments below.