Kickboxing legend hits back at Conor McGregor's criticism of training video with Tom Aspinall

Rico Verhoeven and Tom Aspinall train together (Photo: Instagram)

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Rico Verhoeven, who trained with Tom Aspinall in a video released on social media just before UFC 309 , didn't pay much attention to Conor McGregor 's criticism of the interim heavyweight champion's (up to 120,2 kg) performance in the video in question.

GLORY heavyweight champion and kickboxing legend, the Dutchman mocked McGregor's comment, in an interview with 'MMA Junkie', that described Aspinall's training performance as 'horrible'. According to Verhoeven, the video was just a fun moment where the two simulated Jon Jones ' movements , thinking about a possible confrontation at UFC 309 , an event in which the Briton was a reserve for the title fight.

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“Come on, do you really think Tom and I are going to train seriously and share this on the internet? You have to be kidding. But that’s the mentality of today’s world. If it’s on the internet, it’s true. We’ve been playing this game for a long time and that’s one of the reasons we’re so dominant, because we’re smarter than everyone else. Tom needed to stay in shape so he could maybe fight Stipe or Jon. We were having fun and imitating Jon a little bit in the movement. It’s not something you can analyze and say he wasn’t doing well against me. Trust me, Tom is an incredible kickboxer. He would put up a tough fight against the entire top 3 at GLORY,” he explained.

Regarding Tom Aspinall , Rico Verhoeven took the opportunity to argue that his training partner should have the chance to fight Jon Jones , although he acknowledged the reasons why the reigning champion might want to avoid such a fight.

“He needs to accept this fight. I understand his position. I understand that he’s not very keen on taking this fight, because Tom is a different kind of animal. He’s a different kind of monster. He’s fast, agile, good on the ground, good at wrestling, good at boxing, good at kickboxing. I don’t think Jon Jones wants a piece of Tom Aspinall ,” he concluded.

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