Jon Jones was not impressed with Tom Aspinall’s performance against Ciryl Gane before the eye poke that the Englishman endured prematurely ended the bout at UFC 321 just under a fortnight ago, on October 25.
Here, Sports News Blitz’s Niall Togher breaks down Jones’ comments and what they could mean for the heavyweight division moving forward.
Aspinall’s title defence ends in controversy
After being forced to sit on the sidelines for more than a year after a fight with Jon Jones never materialised, Aspinall was keen to kick off his reign as undisputed UFC heavyweight champion with a bang against Gane.
Unfortunately, this was not to be the case after an eye poke from Gane meant Aspinall was unable to continue, and the bout was ruled a no-contest after four minutes and 35 seconds of the first round had elapsed.
Before the foul, the fight was closer than many anticipated, with Gane able to evade the bulk of Aspinall’s power shots and land some clean jabs from the outside, with one strike in particular busting up the nose of the champion.