It was pretty clear from replays that Tom Aspinall got a finger in each eye at UFC 321. His boss and others implied he took an easy out.
UFC 321: Dana White reacts to Aspinall vs. Gane no contest
Dana White speaks on the Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane no contest at UFC 321 and plans an immediate rematch.
“Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you.”
If Tom Aspinall thinks he’s had a tough hill to climb to become the UFC heavyweight champion, he might want to buckle in. It appears that when it comes to proving his worth to his bosses and others in the UFC sphere of influence, he’s not there yet.
Aspinall was of the opinion that former heavyweight champion Jon Jones stalled him out of big period of potential activity by delaying a title fight while Aspinall was interim champion. During that time, he also had to endure UFC CEO Dana White’s regular claims that even though Jones’ constant legal and personal issues caused plenty of collateral damage to the company, he was still riding Jones’ proverbial jock as MMA’s GOAT.
Saturday, Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) finally had a shot to defend the heavyweight title Jones surrendered when he retired during his latest legal entanglement and lack of interest in fighting Aspinall. Challenger and former interim champ Ciryl Gane (13-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was the opponent, and was a heavy underdog.
But Gane had success early in the first round – right up until he splayed his fingers out on Aspinall’s face and put one finger into each of his eyes. Replays showed a fully open hand, and while it looked like Aspinall’s left eye had a finger go deeper, his right eye was the one that was most bothersome after the double-poke.
After five minutes, he still couldn’t see and the fight was waved off.
Now, these are things that happen in MMA. And sometimes, they happen and the person who was fouled gets accused of suddenly deciding the fight was too much for him, and better to quit and walk away than continue.
And while White didn’t specifically accuse Aspinall of faking the severity of the eye poke, he certainly called it into question – in the way he’s accustomed to.
“I can’t make people fight. If I want to put together a fight, I can’t make people fight, and you definitely can’t make somebody continue if they feel they’ve been injured. Only Tom knows what happened. Could he see? Couldn’t he see? Could he continue? Only Tom knows that.”
Prior to that, White praised Gane for bloodying Aspinall’s nose with an early punch and said “Tom didn’t want to continue” after the eye poke.
Aspinall also took flack from former fighters Anthony Smith and Chael Sonnen, both of whom have failed title shots on their resumes.
They were working the ESPN analyst desk and used the opportunity to take some shots at Aspinall for not being able to see.
“Being poked in the eye is illegal, but to fight with one eye is very common,” said Sonnen, who had a 7-7 run in the UFC and 2-3 in Bellator in his career. “The opponent is trying to hit your eye. He’s trying to bust you up and make your nose bleed. So that part of it, it does have a question for guys like Anthony and I. We are trying to be polite. We are trying to show grace. But in all fairness, you’re the heavyweight champion of the world. You’ve got to fight with one eye at times.
“I thought the fight was turning out to be a little bit harder than perhaps Tom had expected. I had one concern with Tom, and this is not his fault. It’s because he’s so daw-gone good. He’s finished six guys in the first round. He’s never been to a third round, for example. So the question becomes: How are you going to respond when things get tough? … I’’’ve checked out of fights before. I know what it looks like. I knew he was done.”
Smith, whose UFC tenure included a light heavyweight title shot nearly seven years ago, but four losses in his final five fights before he retired earlier this year, used the mic time on the desk to recall his own eye poke back in the day, and how he valiantly kept going.
Smith’s eye poke moment came against Ryan Spann in the UFC Singapore co-main event on ESPN+ a little more than two years ago. Smith won a split decision. Aspinall’s came in a heavyweight title fight in the UFC 321 main event on pay-per-view in a fight that was promoted for weeks on end.
“Don’t be mad at me (for criticizing him) – you had a job, and for whatever reason, you guys did whatever you did and you didn’t do your job. I’m not saying it’s Tom’s fault, and I’m not going to pretend that I know how bad it is or isn’t,” Smith said. “I think Chael made a poetic point: You have to be used to or willing to fight with one eye.
“I did it in Singapore. … I just walked away and said, ‘Let’s fight.’ You either want do or you don’t. My fight wasn’t for a world title. I didn’t have Ciryl Gane in front of me throwing bombs. … You never say ‘I can’t see’ if you want to continue to fight.”
White said the UFC will set up a rematch, and said pending Aspinall’s eye condition, it could be scheduled soon. The UFC is moving its broadcast deal to Paramount+ in 2026. It’s final two pay-per-views of the calendar year, through the current broadcast deal with ESPN, have headliners scheduled.
White has said the plan is for the UFC’s first event on Paramount+ to be one of the biggest ever put together, and a heavyweight title fight, particularly after the drama of Saturday, certainly would fit in there.
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