The UFC 321 main event was ruled a no contest after Cyril Gane accidentally poked Tom Aspinall in the eye.
The Frenchman poked Aspinall at the end of the first round after a close yet exciting fight on Saturday in the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi.
As the heavyweight champion, Aspinall still retains the belt, yet calls for an immediate rematch are loud by UFC and mixed martial arts fans alike as this seems like the most logical solution.
Both fighters started the first round on the front foot and had huge technical exchanges, especially Gane who caught Aspinall with a short left hook to the face.
However, Aspinall came back with his own varied attacks like his effective kicks to the body.
The narrative from most heavyweight fans before the fight was that Aspinall was going to defeat Gane with ease, however Gane’s detailed preparation allowed him to nullify Aspinall’s forward pressure.
Gane used his body movement to evade attacks like stuffing takedowns with expert timing and circling to the right whenever necessary, a much more complete fighter than when he controversially beat Alexander Volkov after a tough fight last year.
According to official UFC fight statistics, both fighters were almost even in significant strikes landed, with 27 out of 39 by Aspinall and 30 out of 40 by Gane.
The fight was shaping up to be an intriguing and technical bout until the unfortunate eye-poke by Gane left Aspinall’s right eye compromised.
Aspinall was left visibly annoyed and frustrated by the incident and even questioned the fan’s booing of the situation, by saying that he was poked “knuckle-deep” and that could he not see out of the eye
Gane was also left emotionally distraught and apologised to Aspinall and the fans for the unfortunate situation.
As of now, no official rematch has been made but is very likely in the near future.
