{"id":720957,"date":"2026-06-07T12:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/720957\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T12:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:05:13","slug":"dana-white-uses-bam-rodriguez-to-shut-down-eddie-hearns-aspinall-ultimatum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/720957\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White Uses Bam Rodriguez to Shut Down Eddie Hearn\u2019s Aspinall Ultimatum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4r\">Dana White is not willing to budge on Eddie Hearn&#8217;s latest business request.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4u\">Although the two are known as rivals in boxing, they are now involved in MMA, with Hearn recently becoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/boxing\/eddie-hearn-gets-revenge-signs-ufc-star-to-new-matchroom-talent-agency\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall&#8217;s manager<\/a>. Hearn made waves by criticizing Aspinall&#8217;s pay and publicly said he would not let the 33-year-old fight again under his current pay structure.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4x\">White uttered a sarcastic response at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=csuQXTLACWU\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zuffa Boxing 07 post-fight presser<\/a>, using one of Hearn&#8217;s top boxers, Jesse &#8216;Bam&#8217; Rodriguez, to counter the claim.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"50\">&#8220;He said he wants [Tom Aspinall] released right? You release Bam Rodriguez, then,&#8221; White said. &#8220;Sounds pretty stupid, doesn&#8217;t it? Congratulations again, Eddie, you sound stupid again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dana White responded to Eddie Hearn&#8217;s request to release Tom Aspinall from his UFC contract:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He said he wanted [Aspinall] released right? You release Bam Rodriguez then.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds pretty stupid, doesn&#8217;t it? Congratulations Eddie, you sound stupid again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>(via <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Zuffa_Boxing?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">@Zuffa_Boxing<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/o4nfVCi0Um\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/o4nfVCi0Um<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/t2CqDn2FRf\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/t2CqDn2FRf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChampRDS\/status\/2063375251442950512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"56\">Rodriguez, Ring Magazine&#8217;s No. 4-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, is arguably the biggest star under contract with Matchroom Boxing. &#8216;Bam&#8217; reportedly received significant interest from Zuffa Boxing before re-signing with Matchroom in April.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"59\">Aspinall has yet to make a UFC appearance since signing with Hearn&#8217;s Matchroom Talent Agency. Although he remains the active heavyweight champion, he has yet to win an undisputed title fight and has not fought since UFC 321 in October 2025, when a brutal eye poke prematurely ended the bout with a no-contest.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5c\">In asking for Aspinall&#8217;s release, Hearn said he would pay the heavyweight &#8220;three times more&#8221; than what he is currently making in the UFC. Aspinall and his team have openly stated their desire to box before the end of his combat sports career.<\/p>\n<p>Dana White pours on criticism of Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Boxing<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01ktg9k37ryvhg4dc6fe.jpg\" alt=\"Eddie Hearn\" title=\"Eddie Hearn\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"5p\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Eddie Hearn | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">White did not relent from the Hearn criticism during the entire presser. The UFC CEO went on to rub in Zuffa Boxing&#8217;s biggest signing, Conor Benn, whom he directly poached from Hearn.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">&#8220;Eddie, apparently [Conor] Benn was his best friend. He&#8217;s been crying, literally crying, for weeks. He didn&#8217;t even want to pay him but he wants to pay my guy? Could&#8217;ve paid his best friend and they could&#8217;ve remained best friends. Eddie&#8217;s full of a lot of s***.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dana White just responded to Eddie Hearn demanding Tom Aspinall get a new UFC deal or be released \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f \u201cConor Benn was apparently his best friend. He didn\u2019t even want to pay him, but he wants to pay my guy? Eddie\u2019s full of a lot of sh*t.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XnAwuxNNqz\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/XnAwuxNNqz<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Al1QixApg6\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/Al1QixApg6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HappyPunch\/status\/2063382898737107296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"62\">White notably <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/boxing\/dana-white-and-zuffa-boxing-poach-top-fighter-from-eddie-hearn\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stole Benn from Matchroom Boxing<\/a> with a groundbreaking one-fight, $15 million deal, which he used to have &#8216;The Destroyer&#8217; fight Regis Prograis in the co-main event of Tyson Fury&#8217;s return event. Benn has since re-signed with Zuffa Boxing on a multi-fight deal.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">Benn is expected to face WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia in September in his second fight with Zuffa Boxing. Garcia remains under contract with Oscar De La Hoya&#8217;s Golden Boy Promotions, making for an intriguing White-De La Hoya co-promotion in the coming months.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dana White is not willing to budge on Eddie Hearn&#8217;s latest business request. Although the two are known&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-720957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}