Ciryl Gane Calls Tom Aspinall Mentally Fragile After Heavyweight Title Vacated
The new undisputed heavyweight champion showed little sympathy for the man whose eye he damaged at UFC 321.
Ciryl Gane is the UFC's undisputed heavyweight champion and he wants everyone to know he saw this coming. In an appearance on ZackNaniTV's podcast, Gane took aim at Tom Aspinall, who vacated the heavyweight title on September 14 after failing to recover from the eye injuries Gane inflicted at UFC 321 last October.
"We knew he was fragile mentally," Gane said. "We had guessed it, we suspected it." The Frenchman then dismissed Aspinall's public campaign to highlight the severity of his injuries. "The guy complains a bit too much. You got poked in the eyes, you have a right to stop. If you feel pain, there's an issue. There's no need to do all that you did in terms of communication because it worked against you in the end."
The backstory is brutal. During their UFC 321 title fight in Abu Dhabi, Gane's fingers penetrated deep into Aspinall's eye sockets near the end of the first round, forcing the fight to be stopped, per Yahoo Sports. The damage was severe enough to require three surgeries, per Heavy. When Aspinall attempted to return to training, he suffered another eye injury and could not obtain medical clearance.
Aspinall, now 33, had fought only once in 26 months before vacating. The decision elevated Gane from interim to undisputed champion without ever winning the belt in a clean finish.
Gane's first defense as undisputed champion is already booked. He will face Josh Hokit at UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden in November, per Heavy. Gane acknowledged that eye pokes happen in MMA but bristled at the suggestion he was singled out unfairly.
The comments drew immediate backlash online. Calling a man mentally fragile after you caused the injury that ended his title reign is a look that even Gane's supporters found difficult to defend.
Ciryl Gane is the undisputed heavyweight champion, and I am not sure he understands how he got there. Your fingers went deep into a man's eye sockets, he needed three surgeries, he re-injured the eye trying to come back, and he vacated the belt. Calling that guy mentally fragile is the worst read of the year.
I get that Gane is tired of being the villain in a story where the foul was accidental. Eye pokes happen and the frustration is real. But there is a way to say that without mocking the person whose career you derailed. He picked the other way, and even his own fans are not defending it.
Here is the honest part. Gane never beat Aspinall. He got a belt because a fight got stopped. Josh Hokit at MSG in November is his chance to make it look legit, and I hope Aspinall comes back healthy so Gane has to earn it the right way.
