Should the UFC run back Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane?
MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn takes a look at what should happen next after the no-contest finish to the UFC 321 main event.
Daniel Cormier thinks Tom Aspinall did him dirty by releasing footage of a private conversation between them before UFC 321.
During media day in advance of Saturday’s event in Abu Dhabi, Cormier pulled Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) aside following their pre-fight interview and touted his ability to deliver a long reign as heavyweight champion, which has contenders like Jailton Almeida, who he said “can’t fight.”
Aspinall included footage of the conversation, where Cormier was whispering, in one of his video blogs and it quickly went viral. It wasn’t a good look for Cormier from an optics perspective, and he admitted fault for that while admitting it was foul for Aspinall’s team to publicize that footage.
“Speaking of Jailton Almeida: Thank you so much for that YouTube video with Tom Aspinall,” Cormier said on his “Good Guy/Bad Guy” podcast with Chael Sonnen on ESPN. “Him and I were talking and the mic was on me and I was talking to Tom About the heavyweight division. I was literally trying to tell him, ‘You could possibly be on the verge of something tremendously special right now.’ In that statement I was saying, ‘Jailton is going to grapple you.’ It’s not as dangerous of a fight, and I could’ve done a better job of saying that to Tom.
“Now, I was a little upset that Tom released that, if I’m being honest with you. When you lean into someone and you’re talking quietly, that’s a private conversation that should stay between you and the athlete. I thought it was ‘Embedded,’ and I know that ‘Embedded’ would never do something like that.”
Cormier did not say whether he addressed the situation with Aspinall directly. The reigning titleholder saw his UFC 321 title defense against Ciryl Gane (13-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) end in disaster when an eye poke from the challenger resulted in a no contest.
Also on the card, Almeida suffered a split decision loss to Alexander Volkov in a potential title eliminator. Although the performance, somewhat emphasized Cormier’s point to Aspinall in the video in that he landed just nine significant fights in a three-round fight that also included 11 minutes of control time, Cormier said he felt guilty when the world heard his comments.
“Regardless of whether you’re saying it in jest or you’re being honest, Jailton Almeida deserves respect, and I do respect him,” Cormier said. “I felt bad because he’s been so nice to me since he got into the UFC, and I think Jailton Almeida is a great guy. I think he does need to round out his game because the grappling is elite, but there’s no damage.”
