Tom Aspinall's latest social media post following his no-contest with Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 has left fans in stitches.
The British champion's heavyweight title defence against Gane ended in disaster after the Frenchman accidentally poked Aspinall in both eyes, causing a fight-ending injury.
After Aspinall confessed that the pokes had left him unable to see, referee Jason Herzog called off the fight in the first round, declaring the result a no-contest.
Since then, Aspinall's dad Andy has confirmed that the UFC star will undergo more hospital tests in the coming days, but remains unable to see from one eye, with his sight about 50% in the other.
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During one of these latest hospital visits, Aspinall took to social media to share a light-hearted dig at Gane, before quickly deleting the post.
As noted by UFC President and CEO Dana White, as disappointing as the result was, it will undoubtedly build-up hype ahead of the rematch which is set to be booked in the coming months.
And it appears that Aspinall is already playing into this hype, as he shared a pair of costume suggestions for the pair to wear on Halloween.
For himself, Aspinall joked that his costume was already sorted as he shared a photo of himself in hospital wearing an eye patch over his right eye on his Instagram stories.
Captioning the photo, he wrote: "At least I'm ready for Halloween."
Meanwhile for Gane, Aspinall shared a fan post that placed Gane’s face on the body of Freddy Krueger, the classic horror villain from A Nightmare on Elm Street who is known for wearing a glove with knives at the end of each finger.
The fan post joked that, like Aspinall, at least Gane is ready for Halloween, to which the heavyweight champion joked: "Man's BEEN ready."
Not long after posting the images, Aspinall took them off of his Instagram story, but that didn't stop eagle-eyed fans from reacting to them on social media.
"At this point, I legit can’t tell if he’s being serious, or if he’s trolling," one fan wrote on X.
Another wrote: "“That’s funny. At least Tom is making light of the situation and not digging himself any deeper.”
With another agreeing, adding: "Lol glad he making fun of this, i hope he destroys him in the rematch which i know he will."
As it stands, it remains unclear when we will next see Aspinall and Gane face off in the octagon but, despite initial hopes that it could feature on UFC 323 in December, it now appears that it will likely take place in the early part of 2026.
Topics: Tom Aspinall, MMA, UFC
Ben McCrum