Tom Aspinall-Ciryl Gane UFC 321 bout ends with controversial no contest after double eye poke

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Champion Tom Aspinall and top-ranked Ciryl Gane couldn’t make it through the opening round of their heavyweight main event at UFC 321 inside Etihad Arena before the match was ruled a no-contest.Aspinall (15-3-0) and Gane (13-2-0) both came out with a lot of energy until an accidental double eye poke prompted an official timeout at the 4:35 mark of the first round.Aspinall (15-3-0) could not see out of his right eye during the allotted five-minute break, and at 4:09 into the stoppage, the match was ruled a no-contest.Warning graphic imageIt was Aspinall’s first defense as undisputed heavyweight champion.“What am I supposed to do about it? I can’t see,” said a disappointed Aspinall, speaking in the ring in response to the chorus of boos throughout the arena.“This is (expletive).

The fight was just getting going.”Gane dropped to his knees, also disappointed, as the ring announcer made the official announcement.“I’m feeling sorry,” Gane said.“I’m very sorry about that.”After the bout an UFC head Dana White was annoyed, according to MMA fighting, but said there will be a rematch, breaking his motto of not guaranteeing rematches right after bouts.“I feel the way everybody feels.

Great showing, shitty ending,” White said at the UFC 321 post-fight press conference.“I think that after the [Jon] Jones fight, a lot of people wrote Ciryl Gane off.

He looked damn good tonight.It looked like we were in for a few rounds, and it was going to be a good fight.“Total pain in the ass but yes [we’ll book the rematch],” White added.

“They’re both in shape, other than whatever’s wrong with his eye.Both guys are not injured.

As soon as possible.“I can’t make people fight.If I want to put together a fight, I can’t make people fight.

You definitely can’t make somebody continue if they feel they’ve been injured.Only Tom knows what happened.

Could he see? Couldn’t he see? Could he continue? Only ...