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

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

training partner Tom aspinall in a video released on the eve of the UFC 309 on social media, Rico Verhoeven didn't give much importance to the criticism of Conor McGregor to the performance of the interim heavyweight champion (up to 120,2 kg) of the Ultimate in the record in question.

GLORY heavyweight champion and kickboxing legend, the Dutchman mocked, in an interview with 'MMA Junkie', McGregor's comment, which called Aspinall's performance in training as 'horrible'. According to Verhoeven, the video was just a moment of fun in which the two simulated the movements of Jon Jones, thinking about a possible confrontation in the UFC 309, an event in which the British fighter was a reserve for the belt dispute.

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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.

Still about Tom aspinall, Rico Verhoeven took the opportunity to defend that his training partner has the opportunity to fight with Jon Jones, although he recognizes the reasons why the linear champion wants to avoid such a duel.

“He needs to take this fight. I understand his position. I understand that he’s not really 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 want a piece of Tom aspinall”, Finished.