Injured UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall will remain on the sidelines and watch Alex Pereira fight Ciryl Gane for the interim 265-pound title — assuming he can see — when the promotion stages “Freedom 250” on the White House lawn on June 14 in Washington, D.C., streaming live on Paramount+.
Maybe it sucks, but the promotion has little choice when it comes to the heavyweight division.
“I mean, who else is going to fight? The division’s on its ass,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel. “There’s
not many big fights to make, is there? So they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do. Obviously, I want to fight the winner of that. Just waiting now to get the green light, the ‘all clear’ from the doctor to start training properly again. As soon as we can start training properly again, full contact in the gym, we will be getting a fight date booked to fight the winner. As soon as the doctor clears me, we’ll let the UFC know and we’ll be looking to book a fight soon as possible.”
Aspinall is coming off eye surgery to repair damage suffered in his UFC 321 “No Contest” against Gane.
During his absence, Aspinall signed a promotional deal with Matchroom Talent Agency, which probably didn’t sit well with White based on his rivalry with Eddie Hearn. It probably didn’t sit well with Hearn, either, who nearly “fell out of his chair” when he learned what penny-pinching UFC was paying its heavyweight champion.
I guess all we can hope for at this point is a non-disgusting finish between Pereira and Gane.
