Ciryl Gane Opens Up About Eye Poke Controversy: “It wasn’t intentional”
Ciryl Gane had quite an inauspicious performance against Tom Aspinall at UFC 321 and the former has touched on the errant eye poke to Aspinall that caused the belt to be waved off. The no contest verdict dealt out for the UFC heavyweight championship fight from over the weekend took the wind out of the sails of many as an poke to Aspinall’s eyes caused the bout to be thrown out the window in the opening round.
In a fight that he came into as sizable underdog, Gane was giving a solid account of himself inside the octagon against Aspinall up until the foul resulted in the French fighter’s third bid for an undisputed UFC title going up in smoke. When speaking to the idea that he had any kind of intent to poke Aspinall’s eyes in the wake of their title clash, Gane said,
“No, it wasn’t intentional. Like the referee said, ‘I saw your hands, they were like this.’ Sometimes, you try to push someone, and if your hand lands near their face, unfortunately it might catch their eyes. But it wasn’t like that—it wasn’t intentional.”
“No one knows the gravity of his eye; I remember when I fought Derrick Lewis, I got poked, and for almost a whole round, I was seeing two Derricks. I know how it is. Maybe Tom felt the same and decided it wasn’t worth the risk. That’s what I tell myself.”
Ciryl Gane is “a little bit sad about this issue. But this is the sport”
Ciryl Gane touched upon his thoughts on his performance in this Tom Aspinall title bid and while also looking toward the future at a sequel clash with the UFC titleholder, Gane stated [via MMA Fighting],
“I think I started very well. Because everybody knows his strategy every time; he starts hard and surprises his opponent. I think we did well, defending a takedown and touching him. We saw some blood on his nose. It was a really great first round, and that’s why I was a little bit disappointed, a little bit sad about this issue. But this is the sport.”
“First of all, I’m going to take care of myself, see my wife, see my family, see my kids. Take some time for me, and then after that, I’ll talk to my coach and see when is the rematch and what’s happening.”
