Ciryl Gane has revisited the UFC 321 fight that ended with Tom Aspinall unable to continue after an eye poke, saying he believed the heavyweight title bout could have gone on that night. The French fighter said he landed his middle kick and the hands when Aspinall came forward, and that when he tried to push his opponent’s face away, his fingers swiped into Aspinall’s eyes.
The bout in October was ruled a no contest, leaving Aspinall’s championship defense without a result and sending both men away from the cage with unfinished business. Gane later said the moment left him frustrated because he thought the fight could continue, and he said he was also thinking about the sacrifices he had made before the contest.
Aspinall’s recovery has stretched beyond the night of the fight. He required double eye surgery after UFC 321 and, as of now, has still not been able to resume sparring. That makes the aftermath more than a scoreline dispute: it has become a medical and sporting setback for the heavyweight champion, whose next steps remain tied to how fully he can return.
Gane initially put Aspinall on blast for what he saw as exaggeration over the eye poke, but he has since walked back some of that reaction. He said he was not judging Aspinall because they were not in his eyes, adding that only the champion could know how serious the damage was. “But this is the sport. It’s OK,” Gane said in explaining why he would not second-guess the injury.
The episode still hangs over the division because it stopped a championship fight without producing a winner, and because Gane is already moving toward another major assignment. He is scheduled to face Alex Pereira for the interim heavyweight title on June 14 at UFC Freedom 250, in the co-main event from the White House in Washington, D.C. That makes the lingering UFC 321 fallout part of the backdrop to his next chance at gold, even if the result with Aspinall remains unresolved.
