Tom Aspinall’s father, Andy Aspinall, has revealed the real reason his UFC heavyweight champion son fought so badly in the first and only round of his UFC 321 title defense against three-time challenger Ciryl Gane at the Eithad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Gane took the fight to Aspinall on Saturday, was more assertive, and even bloodied the nose of the reigning king. However, the bout was brought to an abrupt halt when two of Aspinall’s lingering and outstretched fingers appeared to dig their way into the Brit’s eye-sockets. Bon Gamin’s foul compromised Aspinall’s vision, and a No Contest was ruled.
Fast-forward to midweek, though, and Aspinall’s father/coach said the champion’s vision remains poor. He also provided an explanation for the tactics used on the 25th of October, which perhaps explains why they got off to such a slow start — which Gane was all too happy to take advantage of.
Why Tom Aspinall Started so Badly in UFC 321 Main Event
Gane landed an extraordinary 30 of his 40 strikes, all of which were deemed significant by UFC’s number-crunchers, according to official data from the bout. Of those that landed, Gane connected eight times to the head, nine to the body, and 13 to the leg. It was a solid showing, with a potential epic bout heating up until the fight-finishing foul.
For the Aspinall team, it was always a question of taking things slow.
“Go out there, take your time,” Andy Aspinall said, regarding the pre-fight strategy he shared with Tom.
“Take your time, enjoy it, have a look, see what you think. We know your fitness is absolutely spot on. See how it goes.”
The nature of the foul and abrupt finish frustrated the champion, Andy said. “He’s mad that he didn’t get to show what we think he can do.”
The Aspinall’s appeared to want a five-round battle to show critics they could compete well over multiple rounds rather than blitzing people early and often. “We get a fight, but it’s been fifteen months. So he’s had three minutes fight time in however long it’s been, and he’s just mad that we trained long and hard and lots of cardio to try and do a longer fight, because everybody says Tom can’t do that. Well, we’ll show that you can do that.”
Now, Aspinall has had to fend off more criticism — this time questioning his heart by those who suggest he could have continued the Gane fight despite the eye gouge. “The commentators who commentate, the analysts who do the YouTube channels, they know one fraction of one tiny percentage of Tom Aspinall. They think they know him. They don’t. The people who are in the gym every day will know him quite a lot better, and I know him better than anybody.”
“He’s not a giver-upper.”
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