Dana White slams Tom Aspinall for hinting he’d vacate title to avoid fighting friend. UFC President calls Aspinall’s stance “absolutely insane,” insisting champions must be ready to face all contenders , even friends. In a surprising twist in the heavyweight division, UFC president Dana White has publicly criticised Tom Aspinall’s recent comments about his willingness to vacate his title rather than fight his friend and training partner. White described the idea as “absolutely insane”.
Tom Aspinall, the current heavyweight champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, stated in an interview that if his friend and gym-mate Ante Delija climbs into title contention, he said he’d rather vacate his championship than fight him. Delija recently made a strong impression in his UFC debut, he recently made a strong impression in his UFC debut at UFC Paris by knocking out Marcin Tybura and is considered a rising contender. But Aspinall has no interest in stifling the dreams of his teammate. That’s never something White likes to hear.
His statement quickly made its way to UFC President Dana White, who reacted strongly during media availability ahead of UFC 321. White called the idea “absolutely insane”, insisting that a UFC champion must be ready to face all legitimate contenders. “You know what I think about that before you even ask me,” White told TNT Fight Sports.
“I hate that. Many friends, relatives, name it, have all fought each other before. It doesn’t determine whether you are friends with somebody or you hate somebody. You’re competing against someone to see who the best is, but that’s his decision. “These guys, you become a world champion, and if he defends the title and does whatever he does, to even think about vacating it because you don’t want to compete against somebody is absolutely insane, but he’s a grown man, that’s up to him.” White remains uncertain about what to make of Pereira’s suggestion for now.
“Anything is possible,” White said. “I don’t really like looking down that far talking about the light heavyweight champion moving up but I don’t know, we’ll see how things play out Saturday, obviously, and then the end of this year as far as Pereira goes and stuff like that. We’re only looking at Saturday, that’s it. “Even Tom saying, ‘I’d vacate’ [if he had to fight Delija], it’s even silly to talk about that when the guy is ranked No. 10.”
“Aspinall and Ciryl Gane is a very interesting fight for both guys,” White said. “Aspinall is supposed to be the future of the heavyweight divisions. He’s going to have to get through Ciryl Gane first. And for Gane, there was a point in time when it looked like he might be the future of the heavyweight division, so big fight for both of these guys.”
White also reminded reporters that MMA has a long history of teammates and friends fighting one another at the top level when titles are on the line, and personal relationships cannot dictate divisional integrity. White’s public response signals that the UFC will not look favourably on champions choosing matchups based on friendship rather than competition. The UFC president stressed that the belt represents fighting the best in the world.
