Putting the UFC White House behind him, Dana White is now looking forward to the second half of the year, where he plans to line up another set of exciting cards. Among those, the Conor McGregor comeback at UFC 329 is less than a month away.

Yet, while McGregor’s return remains one of the UFC’s biggest storylines, another involving heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall continues to demand attention. The move to put on events that rival, if not surpass, the one that unfolded at the White House South has also put White in a position where he is forced to confront some uncomfortable questions, including one regarding Aspinall. The heavyweight champion’s potential return has emerged as a major puzzle that continues to draw a wave of speculation. When asked about the subject at the post-fight press conference for Fight Night: Kape vs. Horiguchi 2 at APEX, White offered a very unusual response.

“I’m not going to talk about that stuff,” he stated. “You know, I’ll tell you something that’s funny though. So AJ just signed with CAA for sponsorship and all that kind of stuff. Doesn’t Eddie Hearn have a f—king Isn’t that what he does? Aspinall signs with Eddie Hearn, which is insane. AJ, who’s been with him forever and they’re probably best friends, signs with CAA to get.”

At first glance, it is difficult to understand why Dana White refused to discuss Aspinall and instead shifted the conversation toward Anthony Joshua‘s recent commercial representation deal with CAA Sports and his simmering rivalry with Matchroom head Eddie Hearn. Part of the answer may lie in the circumstances surrounding Aspinall’s delayed return and the difficulty surrounding his next title defense.

Reports had indicated that White planned for Aspinall to defend his heavyweight title from Alex Pereira. However, Aspinall, who has not fought since the title defense last October, as he was left dealing with eye injuries, was not cleared, and the opportunity instead went to Ciryl Gane, who defeated Pereira to become an interim champion once again.

In the lead-up to the White House event, White had expressed enthusiasm, saying Aspinall had a “100%” chance of winning the contest against Pereira had he participated.

That is what makes White’s latest comments, in which he categorically refused to discuss Aspinall, somewhat surprising.

However, a different picture begins to emerge when those remarks are weighed against comments recently made by Eddie Hearn.

Hearn, who has a business relationship with Aspinall through his Matchroom Talent Agency, suggested that he would discourage the heavyweight champion from facing the winner of the Pereira-Gane fight.

“I’m not going to let Tom Aspinall fight for the kind of money that’s in his contract,” Hearn said at a recent media appearance. “To be involved in a fight against Pereira or Gane for literally 1/50th of the revenue of that show, f**k that. I won’t let him do it. It’s time those UFC fighters stop being mugs and start to understand that these people are taking advantage of them. They deserve better. My advice to Tom Aspinall will be, ‘Don’t you dare take that fight for the money that’s in your contract.'”

Hearn’s remarks, therefore, offer clues as to why White declined to answer the reporter’s question directly.

As promoters draw battle lines, Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane seek to settle the score

At the same time, the public positions of White and Hearn do not necessarily appear to reflect the wishes of the fighters involved.

What makes the situation even more interesting is that, despite the opposing viewpoints surrounding them, Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane appear to be moving toward a rematch.

After calling out Aspinall from the cage, Gane described a second meeting with the English heavyweight as “unfinished business” during the UFC White House post-fight press conference. He also made it clear that he wants the rematch “as soon as possible, like, like I like to say, in Paris, for example, is a good idea, but I know let the staff of the UFC work on it.”

For his part, Tom Aspinall responded in kind while casting doubts on Gane allegedly making “illegal” moves in the fight with Pereira. “Paris in September, right? I’ll do that. Yeah, I’ll do that. Let me know. I don’t mind. I’ll go to Paris. Let me know,” he said on his YouTube channel while reviewing the White House co-main event.

Taken together, those comments suggest that the fighters may be far more aligned on a rematch that some of the outside discussion would indicate.

Dana White also left the door open following the events. Speaking alongside Gane and other fighters at the post-fight press conference, he acknowledged that he could try putting Aspinall and Gane together for a “numbered event.”

While White’s latest remarks may have complicated the picture surrounding Aspinall’s comeback, it is worth noting that the UFC has a Fight Night event scheduled for Paris on September 5.

So it remains to be seen whether Aspinall vs. Gane could ultimately land on that card or on a separate event, one that White suggested could be built around their rivalry as the UFC calendar moves deeper into the second half of the career.