Aljamain Sterling: "Did that really hurt as much as you said it did?" - Aljamain Sterling doubts Tom Aspinall’s decision to stop after eye poke at UFC 321

Aljamain Sterling recently questioned whether Tom Aspinall’s reaction matched the severity of the eye poke that stopped his fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321.

Sterling pointed out that fighters are taught to protect themselves and handle such moments differently. He suggested that Aspinall could have taken more time to recover instead of immediately saying he couldn’t see.

That being said, he acknowledged that the poke was clearly unintentional and that Aspinall was compromised. However, Sterling still wondered if the injury truly warranted the stoppage. He noted that medical reports indicated no corneal abrasion or lasting damage, which led him to question whether the pain was as severe as described.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Sterling said:

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“Tommy [was] definitely compromised. I can’t knock that or discredit any of that. I think he was for sure compromised. I think whether or not he could have continued is a question he would have to ask himself. It sucks because now a lot of people are turning on him in such a critical moment... [Aspinall] gets poked, and right away the guy is saying, I can’t see. That is the one thing I have to say, Tommy really messed up. You can’t say I can’t see. We know those are the nail in the coffin to any fight. The ref stops the fight. The doctor comes in, they look at you, they stop the fight."

He added:

"The only thing I will say is there was no cornea abrasion from the reports. From the photo, it looked like Tommy was okay and not going to have any long-term damage... These are positives. Yeah, it sucks the fight was canceled, but if you were truly hurt, I do feel that watching the fight, there’s something to be said that it looked like it was starting to get tough. For those things, it makes me question it. Do I question Tommy and his integrity? No. But it makes me wonder, did that hurt as much as you said it did? At the end of the day, I’m not in Tommy Aspinall’s body."

Check out Aljamain Sterling's comments below (7:40):

Sean O’Malley defends Tom Aspinall amidst criticism after UFC 321

Sean O’Malley stepped in to defend Tom Aspinall after the UFC 321 main event ended in chaos. The heavyweight champion was unable to continue following an accidental eye poke from Ciryl Gane.

While several fighters questioned his reaction, O’Malley called the criticism misplaced. He pointed out that an eye poke is not a strike anyone can fight through and described it as a dangerous foul that could have caused lasting damage. Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said:

“A lot of people in the MMA space are talking about how it was disappointing Tom didn’t continue. You’re the UFC heavyweight champion of the world, you just got poked in the eye very bad. You’re fighting a very dangerous kickboxer. It is hard to stand in front of a human being with that high level of skills and fight him with two eyes. Now you’re going to get illegally poked in the eye... You get punched in the eye, a legal shot, your eye swells up, you can’t see, you fight through that. Tom Aspinall would fight through that. He wouldn’t get punched, eye swells up, and go, ‘I’m done. I can’t see."