(March 5th) UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has become the first athlete signed to Eddie Hearn's newly launched Matchroom Talent Agency, in a move that reshapes the commercial landscape between boxing and MMA and fires the latest shot in an escalating war between Hearn and UFC boss Dana White.

Aspinall has signed a commercial and advisory deal with Hearn's Matchroom Talent Agency. Hearn and his team will handle Aspinall's business dealings inside and outside of fighting. This is emphatically not a boxing contract — Aspinall remains under contract with the UFC and there has been no suggestion that he is immediately looking to cross over to boxing. Aspinall, 32, of Salford, England holds a mixed martial arts record of 15-3, with all of his victories coming inside the distance.

He became the first British UFC heavyweight champion in 2025, and is widely regarded as one of MMA's elite pound-for-pound fighters. Aspinall's father and head coach, Andy Aspinall, previously represented the heavyweight champion making this the first time the Salford fighter has sought outside commercial management.

Aspinall hasn't fought since he defended his title in October against Ciryl Gane. The fight was stopped when Aspinall was poked in the eye on multiple occasions. The injury required multiple surgeries and has kept him sidelined since.

Aspinall teased the announcement on social media with the caption "back to business" before the deal was confirmed. He said: "I'm really excited to welcome Eddie Hearn and the Matchroom Sport group in a commercial and advisory role, and to become the first athlete to join the new Matchroom Talent Agency. Eddie has built one of the biggest brands in sport and understands how to take athletes to the next level, both inside and outside of competition."

Hearn, whose career has been built around guiding major stars including Anthony Joshua and Katie Taylor, was equally effusive. "You are one of the biggest stars in global fight sports. So it's time to put some respect on that," Hearn said. "It's time to build that brand and profile."

The new Matchroom Talent Agency will operate alongside Matchroom Sport's existing global businesses, including Matchroom Boxing, the Professional Darts Corporation, World Snooker and Matchroom MultiSport.

The timing is unmistakably strategic. The signing comes after the UFC-owned Zuffa Boxing made headlines by signing away long-time Matchroom Boxing fighter Conor Benn to a one-fight deal. White's victory lap was cut short this week after Hearn announced the signing of UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. Tensions between Aspinall and the UFC brass have been at boiling point since the controversial ending to his first official undisputed title defense late last year.

A future career in boxing has always been on the agenda for Aspinall, something he has teased for years though for now, the Matchroom deal is purely commercial. Hearn and Aspinall are scheduled to appear together at a press conference in London on March 6 to present the new agency and discuss the partnership.

With Hearn now holding a foothold in MMA talent management and White aggressively building Zuffa Boxing, the battle lines between the two combat sports worlds have never been more sharply drawn.

Matchroom Talent Agency is Eddie Hearn’s new athlete management division under the wider Matchroom Sport umbrella, launched in early March 2026 with UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall as its first signed client.

It focuses on athlete management rather than event promotion, handling commercial partnerships, sponsorships, media, publishing, digital strategy, broadcast opportunities, and legal support for its clients.

The agency is designed to build athletes’ personal brands and public profiles across sports, going beyond boxing into broader combat sports and potentially other disciplines.

The agency sits alongside existing Matchroom operations in boxing, darts, snooker, and multisport, extending the company from promoters into full-scale representation.

Tom Aspinall’s deal is described as a commercial and advisory representation agreement; he remains under UFC contract, while Matchroom Talent Agency manages his business and brand “inside and outside of fighting”.

Hearn says this returns him to his roots in athlete management and that the agency’s mission is to “transform careers through relentless ambition,” built on partnership, transparency, and “telling it straight”.

He calls Aspinall the “ideal, inaugural member” of the team, framing the launch as Matchroom’s first big step into representing elite stars across multiple sports, not just promoting events.

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About Matchroom Boxing

After the success of snooker in the 1980s, Matchroom Sport moved into boxing with two small hall shows followed by Frank Bruno v Joe Bugner at Tottenham Hotspur’s ground – the biggest boxing event of 1987. That launched the company into the boxing big-time, a position it has maintained ever since.

Through the 1990s Matchroom Sport’s boxing roster featured many of the biggest names in the sport including Lennox Lewis, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Steve Collins and Naseem Hamed, all in world title fights and it continues to work with some of the biggest names in UK boxing including Audley Harrison, the 2000 Olympic Super-Heavyweight gold medalist.

Over the years, Matchroom Sport has built up long-standing relationships with broadcasters around the world and with the advent of the Prizefighter phenomenon, the company’s boxing division has never been in a stronger position.

From fantastic six round scraps between the sport’s journeymen, up to multi-million-dollar World Championship contests featuring the above fighters, the Pro Box series has it all. Each show is packed with the very best in boxing action in a series that encompasses almost 25 years of Matchroom Sport’s commitment to bringing the highest quality to the global television market.