Dana White Hints Tom Aspinall Could Vacate His Heavyweight Title After Year-Long Absence
Dana White believes that Tom Aspinall, like Valentina Shevchenko, may soon give up his heavyweight title.
It’s been over 300 days since fans have seen Tom Aspinall inside the UFC octagon. Last year, in October, at UFC 321, while defending his title for the first time against Ciryl Gane, Aspinall got eye-poked, which left him with a serious injury. Since then, the British fighter has not fully recovered and hasn’t even been cleared by doctors. Meanwhile, Dana White has now hinted about what everyone has been guessing: Aspinall might soon vacate his title.
Dana White Unsure About Tom Aspinall’s Future as UFC Heavyweight Champion
At the Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn post-event press conference, White said Aspinall may not want to hold up the heavyweight division. As per the UFC boss, they will soon talk about the situation and find out what the heavyweight champ wants to do. He also said he does not know exactly how Aspinall is doing health-wise but expects to have more answers soon.
“We'll definitely be talking about that. Valentina doesn't want to tie up the division. And I'm assuming Tom feels the same way. I don't know personally where he is health wise with everything , but we should clear that up soon,” White stated.
Recently, Valentina Shevchenko, who is injured, vacated the title, as she doesn’t want to hold up the division. Earlier, White hinted that the heavyweight division will move forward without Aspinall, as he is still not cleared to fight. Talking about the situation, Henry Cejudo also suggested that Aspinall should vacate the title so that the contenders can fight for it.
Henry Cejudo Feels Tom Aspinall Should Vacate His Title
Cejudo believes Tom Aspinall should give up his title or be stripped of it so that the other contenders, like Josh Hokit, Alex Pereira, and others, fight for it. Cejudo also thinks Eddie Hearn is not helping Aspinall. He said Hearn is making things worse by going against Dana White, warning that it is not good business to make him an enemy.
Cejudo said, “I think needs to vacate or be stripped at this point. As a champion if you are hurt and unwilling to compete vacated the belt, let somebody called undisputed till you actually back.”
Aspinall is currently under a lot of pressure to return or at the very least give up the title. Nearly a year has passed since the heavyweight division last saw its champion or heard anything optimistic about his return.
