Dana White shared his immediate reaction to today’s Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane result during the UFC 321 post-fight press conference.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA) and Gane (13-2 MMA) squared off for the promotion‘s undisputed heavyweight title this afternoon in Abu Dhabi. It was a highly anticipated contest, but unfortunately for fight fans and everyone involved, the bout ended in disaster.
After putting forth a strong opening few minutes in his third effort to claim undisputed status, which included busting up Aspinall’s nose, ‘Bom Gamin’ accidently struck the Brit with a double eye poke (see that here). That accidental foul ultimately rendered Tom Aspinall unable to continue, and the fight was called off and ruled a No Contest.
It was an extremely disappointing result, and one that had a pair of fellow fighters calling for the UFC to “make heavyweight great again” following the ruling.
During today’s post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White shared his thoughts on the result, and informed fight fans that he plans on booking a rematch between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane as soon as possible.
“I feel the (same) way everybody feels. Great showing, shitty ending. I think that after the Jones fight, a lot of people wrote Ciryl Gane off. But he looked damn good tonight. It looked like we were in for a few rounds, and it was going to be a good fight. I think that because of the Jon Jones fight, I think everybody was sleeping on Ciryl Gane and kind of wrote him off.”
When asked about Tom Aspinall’s decision to not continue fighting after enduring the foul, White shared the following sentiments:
“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 he knows that.”
As for an immediate rematch between Aspinall and Gane, that is definitely what Dana White has planned:
“Total pain in the ass but yes [we will book the rematch]. They’re both in shape, other than whatever’s wrong with his eye. Both guys are not injured. So, as soon as possible.”
Stay tuned to BJPENN.com for further UFC 321 updates as they become available.