Tom Aspinall isn’t too fussed about Conor McGregor’s crude comments after footage emerged of him sparring.
The UFC interim heavyweight champion was videoed moving around with the iconic kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven. The footage was taken as Aspinall attempted to stay sharp for a potential late-notice call-up to replace either Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.
McGregor picked up on it during discussions around a potential bout between Jones, who beat Miocic, and the Brit. There appears to be some rivalry brewing on the Irishman’s end with the heavyweight, who he regularly brands as Mr Potato Head.
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Conor McGregor branded Tom Aspinall’s sparring footage ‘woeful’
After initially claiming that he felt Jones shouldn’t give Tom Aspinall a chance at the heavyweight title, Conor McGregor changed his tune upon seeing some sparring video. He had been angling for the undisputed champ to face light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira instead.
However, when he saw Aspinall and Verheoeven, he shared a now-deleted tweet where he ripped into the Brit. “That footage of him looking woeful vs Rico Verhoeven is good footage to watch for Jon,” McGregor wrote. “I’ve warmed to this matchup, I think it should happen.”
The video of the sparring is brief and shows the pair getting a light spar in during the build-up to UFC 309. Verhoeven is also preparing for a December 7 Glory Kickboxing title defence on December 7 in the Netherlands.
Tom Aspinall reacts to Conor McGregor’s criticism
In an exclusive chat with Bloody Elbow, the affable Aspinall refused to be too far drawn on what McGregor had said. He noted that he is always in control of what goes out and that he wouldn’t allow anything that made him look bad be released without his say-so.
“I put the video out,” he told Bloody Elbow editor Jordan Ellis. “So, I put out what I want people to see. That’s where I am at with it. I’ve been sparring with Rico for nearly 10 years now. I know how the sparring sessions go.
“I put out what I want people to see. The same with social media, don’t put my whole life on there. I put on what I want people to see and that’s it.
“There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in everybody’s life that people don’t know about and they don’t put out there because you just put out what you want people to see. That’s what I was doing with the video.
Rico Verhoeven adds context to Tom Aspinall sparring video
Verhoeven has echoed what Aspinall said, even noting that he reckons the Brit would compete at the top level if he made the switch to Glory. It would be no surprise; Aspinall comes from a Jiu-Jitsu family but has also boxed professionally and been a part of Tyson Fury’s world title training camps.
Speaking with MMA Junkie yesterday, Verhoeven explained: “Me and Tom, you really, really, really think me and Tom are going to spar for real and share that on the internet? Come on, you’ve got to be kidding me.
“But that’s the mindset of the world today; they’re all like, ‘Yo, what’s on the internet, that’s what’s for real.’ Come on. We’re too smart for that. We’ve been playing this game for such a long time.
“And that’s one of the reasons we’ve been dominating for such a long time, because we’re trying to outsmart everybody. So it’s definitely not a thing we would be posting. We were just having fun. Tom had to stay in shape and ready for either potentially fighting either Stipe or Jon at UFC 309.
“So we were just having fun and imitating Jon a little bit, going left to right and moving around. That’s what we were doing. It’s not a true something you can analyze like, ‘He wasn’t looking that good vs. Rico.’ Because believe me. Tom is an amazing kickboxer.
“He would give definitely give the top three in Glory their hands full in a fight. Every time he comes we talk and he’s such an amazing listener and he’s a learner. Every time I give him stuff, he comes back and he masters the trick I told him. I love it.”