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Tom Aspinall is not happy about the conclusion of his first title defense at UFC 321.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was on the receiving end of a nasty double eye poke from Ciryl Gane (13-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the opening round of Saturday’s heavyweight championship bout in Abu Dhabi. After taking several minutes of recovery time, Aspinall said he could not regain his vision, ending the fight with a no contest result.
It was a frustrating moment for Aspinall, who called the situation “bullsh*t” during his in-cage interview with Daniel Cormier before being transported to hospital.
Aspinall had a film crew with him to document the aftermath of the fight, and he’s now released a video blog on his YouTube channel showing his treatment from doctors.
“All that training for that,” Aspinall said. “What the f*ck is he doing? He got warned twice before it. F*cking did it again. … How is he not disqualified after that? People start booing me like it’s my fault. I got poked in the eye, mate. I just trained for 14 months. Trust me, I didn’t want someone’s finger knuckle deep in my eye. That’s the last thing I wanted.”
Following the event, UFC CEO Dana White expressed his disappointment about what unfolded and said he is targeting an immediate rematch between Aspinall and Gane.
It’s too soon to determine a timeline, however, because Aspinall said he needs additional testing when he returns to England.
“We’ll do some more testing in the UK,” Aspinall said. “Flying back today and we’ll go from there. I’m not sure when I’m ready until I find out what’s going on. See you next time, whenever the next time is going to be. We are heart broken.
