"The guy didn't want to see" - Jon Jones claims Tom Aspinall wanted a way out of fight against Ciryl Gane

UFC 321: Aspinall v Gane - Source: Getty
Tom Aspinall before his fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 [Image courtesy: Getty]

Jon Jones continued to hit out at Tom Aspinall after the Brit's first title defense ended in a no-contest.

Ad

The current UFC heavyweight champion faced Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 but could not continue after being on the receiving end of a couple of eye pokes.

Jones, the former UFC heavyweight champion, had been called out by Aspinall previously for a fight. While ‘Bones’ did not fight Aspinall, he has slammed the Brit for his actions.

There was some controversy regarding the severity of Aspinall’s injury during the fight, something Jones alluded to while speaking to Geoffrey Woo:

Ad

Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more

“Initially, the doctor was like ‘he looks fine’ and Tom’s like ‘no, I can’t.’ The guy wasn't trying to see, the guy didn't want to see.”

Jones claimed that Aspinall didn’t know which eye was injured more and he used this as an excuse to quit the fight:

“The eye he was covering appeared to be actually the eye that didn't get penetrated. One eye, the finger goes all the way, underneath the eyelid. The other eye it was on top of the eyelid… I don't think Tom really knew which eye was supposed to be more compromised. He just knew that he had been fouled and it was his way out.”
Ad

‘Bones’ didn’t rule out a fight with Aspinall in the future but added it wasn’t a necessary fight:

“If we still fight, it'd be awesome. If not, I don't feel like I need him. Especially after his last performance.”

Check out Jon Jones' comments below:

Ad

Ciryl Gane’s coach shares take on Tom Aspinall’s eye injury

Fernand Lopez, Ciryl Gane’s coach, also shared his take on the big talking point from UFC 321.

Lopez spoke with UFC legend Daniel Cormier and was disappointed with the outcome of the fight:

"Ciryl looked good there. For us, everything was going as planned. Absolutely planned. Unfortunately, if he can't see, he can't see. There's nothing we can do about it. So disappointed."

Gane did catch Tom Aspinall a few times in the round, and the Frenchman was looking good. UFC CEO Dana White wasn’t pleased with the result but confirmed that a rematch would take place as soon as possible.

Quick Links

Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim
Sportskeeda logo
Close menu
WWE
WWE
NBA
NBA
NFL
NFL
MMA
MMA
Tennis
Tennis
NHL
NHL
Golf
Golf
MLB
MLB
Soccer
Soccer
F1
F1
WNBA
WNBA
down arrow icon
More
bell-icon Manage notifications