Dana White Set to Take Action as Tom Aspinall Calls Out UFC Boss Over Eye-Poke
Dana White plans to take action in the wake of Tom Aspinall's update after suffering a nasty eye injury against Ciryl Gane.
Aspinall, whose UFC heavyweight title defence against Gane ended in a no contest after an accidental eye poke, posted a medical report on social media revealing he is suffering from double vision, reduced eye motility, visual function and a substantial field loss.
He has also been diagnosed with a rare eye condition called Brown's syndrome, which is a condition where the eye cannot move upwards, particularly when looking inward.
Aspinall shared an update as he posted a video on his YouTube channel, stating that he is not yet clear to return to action more than a month after sustaining the blow.
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The Brit also hit back at White after he claimed the star fighter didn't want to 'continue' in the bout.
Speaking at the UFC 321 post-fight press conference, White said: "I feel the way everybody feels. Great showing, sh*tty ending. think that after the [Jon] Jones fight, a lot of people wrote Ciryl Gane off. He looked damn good tonight. It looked like we were in for a few rounds, and it was going to be a good fight.
"I can’t make people fight. If I want to put together a fight, I can’t make people fight. You definitely can’t make somebody continue if they feel they’ve been injured. Only Tom knows what happened. Could he see? Couldn’t he see? Could he continue? Only he knows that."
Aspinall provided an update on his eye injury and in doing so, revealed why he didn't continue.
“I’ve been having a lovely time, in and out of the hospital, having all kinds of different tests done to my eyes, speaking to specialists, speaking to surgeons, speaking to doctors," he began. "Oh, it’s been a fantastic time.”
On White's comments, Aspinall added: "I didn’t continue, and I’ll tell you why I didn’t continue: because I’m not a f**king dummy.
"I’m not going to go out there and fight one of the best strikers in the world if I can’t see. I know, as an MMA fighter, things are going to happen in the fight that compromise you."
As the 32-year-old heals, the UFC boss argued 'harder penalties' may be the way forward to combat eye pokes inside the Octagon.
"Getting poked in the eye by anybody isn’t good," he said on the Triggernometry podcast. "We’ve messed around with gloves, we’ve tried to do all these things. I think the big talk is if there’s harder penalties for doing it, guys would be a lot more conscious of it.
"Because you always have these guys where you’re throwing punches and I’m blocking your punches [with my hands out and fingers extended] and then you get a guy that reaches out to catch something and the other guy is coming forward, it’s going to happen.
"It doesn’t happen as much as it seems. I can’t remember the number... it’s like a hundred or something eye pokes over thousands of fights."
'Harder penalties' could include multiple point deductions or even disqualification for persistent eye pokes.
Aspinall is set to rematch Gane when he recovers from his eye injury.
He said he is eager to run it back with Gane, saying: "I've got to be 100 per cent right. So, whenever the eye's good to go, that's when I'll do it."
Topics: Tom Aspinall, Dana White, UFC
Nasir Jabbar