{"id":32,"date":"2026-06-25T15:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/?p=32"},"modified":"2026-06-25T15:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:12:10","slug":"eddie-hearn-rips-michael-bisping-over-tom-aspinall-comments-as-heavyweight-champ-eyes-ufc-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/2026\/06\/25\/eddie-hearn-rips-michael-bisping-over-tom-aspinall-comments-as-heavyweight-champ-eyes-ufc-comeback\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn Rips Michael Bisping Over Tom Aspinall Comments as Heavyweight Champ Eyes UFC Comeback\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ongoing tension between Tom Aspinall and Dana White only intensified following the heavyweight champion\u2019s eye-poke <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/r1ilKrub_lw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">controversy against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. After enduring a 14-month layoff while Jon Jones declined to unify the heavyweight titles, Aspinall finally returned to action. However, his comeback ended in dramatic fashion when the fight was halted late in the opening round.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the 4:35 mark of Round 1, an accidental double eye poke from Gane left Aspinall unable to see, forcing referee Jason Herzog to stop the contest and rule it a no-contest. Despite being given nearly four minutes to recover and undergoing examinations by two cageside physicians, the champion informed officials that his vision remained compromised and that he could not continue. As a result, Aspinall retained his heavyweight title under unfortunate circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\ude31 Tom Aspinall got DOUBLE eye poked pretty deeply! <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/oEG9sh4foX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/oEG9sh4foX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Home_of_Fight\/status\/1982191215727476828?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The situation became even more concerning in the aftermath when Aspinall was diagnosed with bilateral traumatic Brown\u2019s syndrome and subsequently underwent double eye surgery. He is now reportedly preparing for a return, with Gane calling for an immediate rematch following his victory over Alex Pereira at UFC Freedom 250. Aspinall has welcomed the challenge, and the pair are being linked to a potential showdown in Paris later this September.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Away from the Octagon, Aspinall recently signed a new management deal with Eddie Hearn&#8217;s Matchroom Talent Agency. The move drew scrutiny from former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, who questioned the lack of transparency surrounding Aspinall\u2019s injury situation. Speaking on a recent episode of the Believe You Me podcast alongside fellow UFC veteran Paul Felder, Bisping suggested that the details surrounding Aspinall\u2019s recovery remain unclear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While careful with his wording, &#8216;The Count&#8217; admitted that the limited information coming from Aspinall\u2019s camp had raised questions. Bisping said, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019ve got to choose my words carefully here, but he\u2019s just said, \u2018I\u2019m still not clear to fight. But he\u2019s been very vague with the details. If I wasn\u2019t cleared, because he\u2019s got a YouTube channel, he posts content all the time, you\u2019d talk about it, the procedures that he had, the operations, whatever.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 Michael Bisping criticizes Tom Aspinall for how he\u2019s handled his eye injury:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a surgery, recovered, came back and had a fight in a SHORTER amount of time than what it\u2019s taken this whole eye poke saga.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s been very vague about the details. If I wasn\u2019t cleared, he\u2019s\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gBWsqpLxf3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/gBWsqpLxf3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ACD MMA (@acdmma_) <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/acdmma_\/status\/2062595260505608347?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/2026\/06\/25\/ian-garry-backs-conor-mcgregor-to-capitalize-on-max-holloways-welterweight-debut-at-ufc-329\/\" target=\"_self\">Ian Garry Backs Conor McGregor to Capitalize on Max Holloway\u2019s Welterweight Debut at UFC 329<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bisping also questioned the timing of Hearn\u2019s decision to sign Aspinall, suggesting that the promoter\u2019s ongoing friction with UFC CEO Dana White could potentially be a motivating factor. Those comments did not sit well with Hearn, who strongly pushed back against Bisping\u2019s remarks and criticized the former champion for failing to support a fellow British fighter during a difficult period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During a recent <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hodDZNoNChc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Hearn did not hold back in his criticism of Bisping&#8217;s comments. Hearn said, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese are people that are on the payroll. These are people that have been suppressed, themselves, and these are people that don&#8217;t have any backbone about them. Michael Bisping should be ashamed of what is being proposed to Tom Aspinall to be in a fight like Ciryl Gane with that amount of money that is in the pot. He is a fighter. He should stand up for what&#8217;s right for fighters.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hearn continued his tirade by accusing Bisping of prioritizing the UFC&#8217;s interests over those of the athletes. According to the Matchroom chief, fighters deserve a far greater share of the revenue they help generate and should not be pressured into accepting unfavorable terms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He added,<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cSo what are you saying, Bisping? &#8216;Do as you&#8217;re told, shut up, take your money. That&#8217;s all you&#8217;re worth. There&#8217;s $60 million in the pot. Be quiet. You&#8217;re getting three percent of the pot.&#8217; You&#8217;re the fighter. You&#8217;re putting your health on the line, you&#8217;re the talent, you&#8217;re the reason this organization is what it is, and Bisping should be ashamed of himself for that.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He concluded with, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI keep saying to Bisping, &#8216;Sit down with me, live, and we&#8217;ll have a debate about it,&#8217; and he&#8217;ll never do it because he knows he can&#8217;t say certain things. But he&#8217;s a fighter. He should be standing up for the best interests of the fighter, not allowing fighters to be suppressed and bullied and told what to do or what to accept.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Eddie Hearn questions Michael Bisping&#8217;s motives behind his criticism of Tom Aspinall:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Michael Bisping should be ashamed&#8230; These are people that are on the payroll. These are people that don&#8217;t have any backbone about them.<\/p>\n<p>He is a fighter. He should stand up for what&#8217;s right\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FFAdFx07qk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/FFAdFx07qk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/arielhelwani\/status\/2069842076662133012?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 24, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amid his criticism of Bisping, Hearn also provided a positive update on Aspinall&#8217;s condition, confirming that the heavyweight champion is now fully healthy and ready to defend his title against Gane. While a rematch remains the immediate priority, Hearn emphasized that the timing of the fight and its financial terms must also make sense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Hearn, the current contract on the table does not adequately reflect Aspinall&#8217;s value as one of the UFC&#8217;s biggest stars. He argued that the champion&#8217;s contractual compensation is disproportionately low compared to the revenue and attention he brings to a fight of that magnitude.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ongoing tension between Tom Aspinall and Dana White only intensified following the heavyweight champion\u2019s eye-poke controversy against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321. After enduring a 14-month layoff while Jon Jones declined to unify the heavyweight titles, Aspinall finally returned to action. However, his comeback ended in dramatic fashion when the fight was halted late [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5886,"featured_media":33,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<smartframe-embed customer-id=\"c78749ece7fd074ea5dc1889e7c53f0f\" image-id=\"esmeLXJbJXrl\" style=\"width: 100%;max-width: 3822px;aspect-ratio: 3822\/2548\"><\/smartframe-embed><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support -->","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[33,34,31,32],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ufc","tag-ciryl-gane","tag-eddie-hearn","tag-michael-bisping","tag-tom-aspinall"],"modified_by":"Kshitiz Kumar Singh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5886"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/35"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}