The highly anticipated UFC 321 main event, Tom Aspinall vs. Cyril Gane, ended in an unusual no-contest due to an unintentional poke to the eye. The ruling has caused much controversy on social media.
On October 25 in the Etihad Center in Abu Dhabi, UFC Heavyweight (205-265 lbs) champ Tom Aspinall and number one-ranked contender Ciryl Gane faced off in a fight for the Heavyweight belt. The first four minutes and 35 seconds of the bash were relatively normal until Gane threw a jab at Aspinall’s face, opening his hand at the end and poking both of his eyes. After four minutes and four seconds of Aspinall trying to recover, the fight was called as Aspinall claimed he couldn’t open his eye.
Prominent figures in the UFC community, such as Chael Sonnen and Aljamain Sterling, have come out and criticized Aspinall for quitting, regardless of the injury. Others have argued that Aspinall wouldn’t have beaten Jon Jones, with whom Aspinall has a long history.
Tom Aspinall became the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion after holding the interim belt, which is when there is a temporary titleholder because the undisputed champion is injured or some other reason, for 19 months. This was the longest ever reign of an interim belt in UFC history. He is also one of the few people to ever defend the interim belt after his defeat over Curtis Blaydes in UFC 304.
Following the retirement of Jon Jones, who was the Heavyweight Champion prior, Aspinall became the undisputed Heavyweight champion, and his first defense was at UFC 321 against Ciryl Gane. The no-contest result was not well-received by people on the internet and certain figures in the MMA community, who claimed that Aspinall had quit.
Some of this criticism came out in the post-fight show with Brendan Fitzgerald, Anthony Smith, and Chael Sonnen. They showed respect for the champ, but there was still some calling out, like “You’re the heavyweight champion of the world, you gotta fight with one eye,” Chael Sonnen said.
Former Bantamweight (max 135) Champ Aljamain Sterling, who actually won his belt over Petr Yan due to illegally kneeing a downed opponent, also came after Aspinall over X. He stated that Aspinall said he couldn’t see, and “We all know when you are fouled, you cannot say those words otherwise, the referee is inclined to stop the fight,” Sterling said.
Other people online have been commenting on the hypothetical question of whether Tom Aspinall would have beaten Jon Jones. The reason for Aspinall’s long-term as interim champ, from November 11th, 2023, to June 21st, 2025, was that Jon Jones was first injured, but then refused to fight him. He chose Stipe Miocic instead as his first victim as champ instead.
The usual path back to fighting as champion is to fight the interim champion, but Jones diverted from that. Many people claimed Jones was “ducking” Aspinall, and these conversations became even more prominent after Jones retired after a long, very successful career. One of Jones’ title wins was against Ciryl Gane, where he won the fight in two minutes.
Following the fight between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane, people have come forward to say that they believe Gane was winning the fight up to that point. Considering how he beat Gane easily, people have come out and argued for either side. For example, BlondedMMA on X posted, “Imagine what Jon Jones would’ve done to Tom if they fought.”
“Although many people believed he should (have continued fighting) because of the stereotype of the heavyweight champ being ‘The baddest guy on the planet,’ this would’ve destroyed him throughout the rest of the fight,” Talan Ferraro’28 commented, who is both a huge UFC fan and also watched the fight live on pay-per-view.
Aspinall and Ciryl Gane are not officially set to fight again, but UFC President and CEO Dana White has stated that a rematch is likely. This only leaves one question: Will Aspinall get back on track and put away Gane, or will Gane shock the world and defeat Aspinall?
