Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane Pay After UFC 321 No Contest

Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane's UFC heavyweight title fight ended in huge disappointment after an accidental eye-poke led to a no-contest being called.

With just 15 seconds remaining in round one of the UFC 321 main event, Aspinall was caught in both eyes by Gane's fingers and was in immediate discomfort.

Given time to recover from the referee, Aspinall repeatedly confirmed he could not see out of his right eye and left the official with no choice but to call off the fight before it had really began.

After a furious X-rated interview with Daniel Cormier inside the Octagon, Aspinall travelled to hospital for tests in which a doctor agreed with the stoppage but said he was happy nothing "dangerous" had been sustained.

Gane, meanwhile, apologised for the accidental eye-poke which led to loud boos at the Etihad Arena.

It is not the first instance of a no-contest in UFC, with there previous precedent of what happens to the fighters' pay for such a result.

Aspinall's UFC heavyweight title defence against Gane was called a no-contest. Image: Getty

Typically, in the event of a no-contest, fighters still receive their money for showing up but are not eligible for bonuses of around £38,000 because there is no official result.

That is what happened in 2021 when Kevin Holland vs Kyle Daukaus was ruled a no-contest for an accidental clash of heads, with both given their contracted pay and facing another in a swiftly booked rematch.

Similarly, Sean O'Malley accidentally poked Pedro Munhoz in the eye at UFC 276 in 2022 and the same result was called, with the pair of fighters getting their base pay.

As the heavyweight champion, Aspinall's base salary was a reported £376,000 - though his overall pay is also likely to include a sizeable share of the pay-per-view buys which would increase the fee significantly.

Gane's base fee has not been disclosed as UFC do not publish official fighter payouts but it was estimated beforehand that he could have been looking at around $800,000 to $1 million overall if he was victorious.

UFC veteran calls for purse change

The outcome on Saturday night has prompted plenty of conversation about how UFC could combat the issue going forward - with suggestions made about the gloves used by fighters.

However, Jim Miller, one of the most respected fighters in history, believes the logical solution is to deduct a point and a portion of a fighter's purse if they are responsible for an eye poke.

In a video shared, Miller said: "Look, I can close my fist, I can bend the ends of my fingers without the glove even moving, so if it was the glove that held my hand open I could still (bend my fingers).

“But most of these eye pokes, my hand is not getting held open like that, are you f***ing kidding me? What causes the eye pokes is the little b***h inside that’s being passive and avoiding the fight and not being aggressive.

“And that little voice needs to get punished by an immediate point being taken away and in my opinion, a portion of the purse and then I think you would see them stop, real quick."

With Aspinall waiting on further tests back home, Dana White has confirmed plans for a swift rematch - with some calling for it to take place in Las Vegas in December if the champ recovers quickly.