Dana White attempts to defend his relationship with Tom Aspinall despite ongoing friction

UFC boss Dana White believes he and Tom Aspinall are still on good terms.

UFC heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall, hasn’t fought inside the Octagon since last October, when his title defense against Ciryl Gane was cut short.

Since then, the 32-year-old has been nursing ongoing life-changing eye injuries, which required several surgeries.

And Aspinall hasn’t been too happy with the support, or lack thereof, that he has received from his UFC boss, Dana White.

Dana White: ‘Tom and I obviously need to talk’

During the post-fight press conference following Aspinall’s injury, White claimed that the champion didn’t want to carry on, almost hinting that he thought he quit.

That was the beginning of their relationship becoming fractious, which has since showed no signs of improvement.

Despite that, in an interview on Piers Uncensored, White has attempted to defend his relationship with the heavyweight champion.

“He’s still my heavyweight champion. The company has talked to him, I haven’t talked to him but Tom and I obviously need to talk.

“He and his dad came out recently and said that they felt like I had sort of s— on them in the way that I had spoke about his eye injury, which was positively not the case. Tom Aspinall is a guy that I respect, he’s been great to work with the whole time he’s been here.

“Never once did I question his injury or speak negatively about it… They thought I had knocked him in some way, which I absolutely, positively didn’t and wouldn’t, I like him very much and respect him.”