Featured Image Credit: UFC
Topics: Tom Aspinall, UFC
Josh Lawless
Tom Aspinall was raging and laid into the fans at the Etihad Arena after they booed when his UFC 321 main event was called a no contest due to an accidental eye poke.
After more than 400 days on the sidelines, Aspinall returned to the Octagon for a first defence of his UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in Abu Dhabi.
He was finally crowned undisputed champion after Dana White announced Jon Jones had retired from mixed martial arts.
But just when the fight was clicking into gear, at the end of round when Gane accidentally prodded his fingers into the eyes of the champion, who was left in immediate discomfort.
A time-out was called as Aspinall was given time to recover and be assessed by the doctor. But he repeatedly told the doctor and the referee that he could not see and in the end, with seconds left of the first round, the bout was announced as a no-contest.
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The decision was met by loud jeers by those in attendance and after the almighty disappointment, Aspinall was understandably livid and fired back at those who provided a negative reaction.
Although widely seen as one of the nicest guys in combat sports, Aspinall did not mince his words in an expletive-filled rant when speaking to UFC legend Daniel Cormier.
"Guys, I just got f***ing poked knuckle deep in the eyeball," he fumed.
"What the f**k? Why are you booing? What am I supposed to do about it? I didn't do the f***ing poke. I can't see. Tom, they should not be booing. This is bulls**t. The fight was just getting going. Complete bulls**t. I'm p***ed off. I can hardly open my eye. Look. Look. Look at this. Look at this. Fucking double poke. Both eyeballs. Yeah, it was double. It was double."
Former light heavyweight champ Cormier called for an instant rematch between the two, naming December as a potential timeframe for Aspinall and Gane to do battle again after the worst possible outcome.
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Gane, meanwhile, issued a full apology for the unfortunate situation, commenting: "I feel sorry. I'm sorry for the crowd, for the fans, I'm sorry for Tom Aspinall and sorry for myself.
"We put a lot of energy in this fight so I'm disappointed but this is the sport, this is life.
"I don't know what is going to happen for the future but we will see."