Tom Aspinall has finally spoken out on the situation that occurred at UFC 321, where Aspinall, as the heavyweight champion, was rendered unable to continue due to a foul. His opponent on the night, Ciryl Gane, poked Aspinall in the eye (or eyes, depending on what angle you see) in the first round and as a result of the Briton not being able to continue, the fight was deemed a no contest.
The controversy came as the fight hadn’t really got going. Gane did extremely well against Aspinall, something that no one thought he was going to do. He pieced Aspinall up on the feet, bloodied his nose and defended the takedowns. He was quicker than the champion and it was the first time in the UFC that it appeared that Aspinall was going to lose a round.
We will never know how that fight on that night would have played out due to the injury suffered by Aspinall, however, we’re all hoping for the rematch.
At the post fight press conference, UFC president Dana White wasn’t best pleased with his heavyweight champion and commented:
“He had Tom (Apsinall) bloodied up and erm, you know, Tom didn’t want to continue in the fight”
What White is suggesting here is that Aspinall looked to take the easy way out, rather than fighting on.
Tom Aspinall Hits Back at Dana White
Taking to his YouTube channel, Tom Aspinall addressed the comments made by White on the night of UFC 321. The world heavyweight champion said:
“I’ll tell you why I didn’t continue. Because I’m not a f***ing dummy. I’m not going to go out there and fight one of the best strikers in the world if I can’t see”
It takes a lot for anyone to step in the octagon and as Dana White has never done so, nor has he ever been eye poked in a professional fight, it’s fair to say that Tom Aspinall is better placed to discuss the situation.
Talking about his opponent on the night, Aspinall accused Gane of purposefully trying to poke him in the eye and stated:
“The guy was trying to f***ing poke my eyes out. The guy was cheating from the first second… I think he’s a big cheater. Look at all his fights”
As to whether we’ll see Tom Aspinall fight again soon, it doesn’t appear very likely. He said:
“There’s talk of surgery on the eyes. I’m not in the gym training at the moment… right now we just gotta focus on the health. That’s all I can control right now. We’ll cross that bridge when I’m feeling better.”
You can check out the full video here:
