UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has announced that he’s signed with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn’s new Matchroom Talent Agency.

The news comes amidst a power struggle between Hearn and Dana White after the UFC CEO shocked the boxing world by signing one of Matchroom’s biggest boxing stars Conor Benn to a one-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing.

White and Hearn had already seen their previously very cordial relationship dissolve into a public war of words due to White stepping into the boxing world, but his move to sign Benn left Hearn stunned, admitting that he’d been ‘devastated’ by the development.

Now Hearn has launched a counter-punch at White by doing a deal with Aspinall, who was elevated to UFC’s heavyweight champion status last year after a lengthy stint as interim titleholder.

Aspinall’s deal with Matchroom isn’t as much of a hammer-blow as the Benn deal however since it’s purely a commercial and advisory deal, which means that the star still remains under contract with the UFC and won’t be making an immediate switch to boxing.

However, it does ratchet up the rivalry between White and Hearn to yet another level, and ensures that any contract negotiations going forward between the UFC and Aspinall are going to be exceptionally tense, if not just downright toxic.

That being said, relations between Aspinall and White were already in a bad way even before Hearn got involved due to the UFC head honcho having been seen to be less than supportive of the champion after he suffered a nasty double-eye poke injury in his first title defense against Ciryl Gane late last year that led to a no-contest ruling.

Aspinall has been sidelined ever since and has only recently undergone eye surgeries as he tries to improve his vision in order to be able to get back into the Octagon.

Aspinall has always had boxing ambitions, and indeed was even a sparring partner for Tyson and Tommy Fury in his younger days before committing to MMA.

And given Aspinall’s frosty relationship with White over the past few months, and that he’s now signed the deal with Matchroom, it does now seem like there’s a strong possibility that Aspinall could move on to compete in the squared circle when his current deal with the UFC comes to a close.

That being said, just weeks ago Aspinall’s eye health remained enough of a concern that even the fighter himself has admitted that he’s just been trying to concentrate on getting better rather than thinking about fighting.

However, Aspinall was in a positive mood today as he signed the new deal with Matchroom.

“I’m really looking forward to working together and exploring some exciting opportunities as I continue my journey back into the cage,” Aspinall said.

And of course Hearn was delighted to have got one of the UFC’s biggest stars on the books for his new talent agency.

“We believe in creating opportunities where others see obstacles,” said Hearn.

“At the heart of everything we’ve done as a business over the last 40 years is identifying ordinary people, who have extraordinary talent,” Hearn said.

“Tom Aspinall is the perfect embodiment of that.”