Ciryl Gane Describes Tom Aspinall as "Mentally Fragile"
Ciryl Gane has described Tom Aspinall as "mentally fragile" in a recent interview.
Ciryl Gane and Tom Aspinall. Two fighters who will always be embroiled in each other's business for one reason or another. Simply put, the two fighters don't like each other, which stems from their October bout last year at UFC 321. Whilst the build-up to that fight was full of respect, the fight saw fouls galore.
Ciryl Gane repeatedly eye-poked Tom Aspinall, leading to not only the end of the fight itself, but potentially an end to Aspinall's MMA career. As a result of life-changing eye injuries suffered at the hands (or fingers) of Gane, Aspinall has been forced to give up his heavyweight title, which Gane now holds.
Gane has been matched with Josh Hokitt in a UFC heavyweight title fight at Madison Square Garden for UFC 334.
Ahead of this November fight, Gane has been talking about a range of topics and has taken the opportunity to slam Aspinall in what feels like an unnecessary quip.
Ciryl Gane Slams Tom Aspinall
The Frenchman went on ZackNaniTV's podcast, Gane described the now-former heavyweight champion as 'mentally fragile'.
Talking about the UFC 321 fight, Gane said, “We knew he was fragile mentally. We had guessed it, we suspected it.” A bold thing to say based on almost no evidence.
Discussing the eye poke that stopped the fight, Gane said, “The guy complains a bit too much. You got poked in the eyes, you have a right to stop. If you feel pain, there’s an issue. There’s no need to do all that you did in terms of communication because it worked against you in the end.”
But the issue is, it wasn't just an eye poke. He poked Aspinall in both of his eyes, detaching his retina in the process. Some of what he said was correct: that eye pokes do happen every week, and he seems to have been treated more harshly than others; however, it's also worth noting that he was in a PPV headliner, and he rendered his opponent unable to continue, leading to a premature ending to the fight.
It's heating up in the heavyweight division, and we could be seeing a rivalry for the ages emerge.
