Tom Aspinall has revealed when he plans to make the move from MMA to boxing.
The UFC heavyweight champion spent his formative years training with ring legend Tyson Fury.
Tom Aspinall had one professional boxing bout before committing himself full-time to MMA in 2017.
Now there’s talk of him potentially switching sports in search of a monstrous payday after Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford reportedly made a combined $200 million for their fight this past weekend.
Tom Aspinall’s potential move to boxing
Tom Aspinall insists he’s still got work to do in the UFC before he can consider a move to boxing.
First up, the 31-year-old Englishman will defend his belt against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 on October 25.
“Not right now, to be honest,” Aspinall said when Bloody Elbow asked if he’s thinking about a move to boxing.
“If I get to the stage where I have cleared out the division and I’ve got nowhere else to go, that’s maybe something I’ll look at.”
Aspinall understands monster paydays are potentially awaiting him in boxing, but he doesn’t want to focus on how he could benefit, and instead talked about how more money is good for combat sports as a whole.
He added: “I think any time combat sports in general is doing well, that’s good for everybody. I like it.
“If we could all get paid more – not that I’m getting bad wages from the UFC – if you’re talking about $100 million, that’s a lot of money.
“So, I think it’s good for everybody, not just me, it’s good for everybody across combat sports.”
Tom Aspinall’s dad wants boxing move
Tom Aspinall’s father, Andy Aspinall, has been training him since he was just a young boy.
Naturally, he wants to see his son get properly compensated for the fights he takes.
Andy recently caused a stir by talking up a potentially lucrative move to boxing.
“I’d love him to have a very highly paid boxing match for the money, ” he said on the UFC heavyweight champion’s YouTube channel.
“The money’s there, and I don’t see why somebody as talented as Tom shouldn’t have a piece of that money when the boxers are getting a hundred times more, more than a hundred times more.
“The UFC ain’t paying that type of money. If they would, it would be great and he could get the money, but I think these one percent of people who are very, very good should get paid.”