Heavyweight title fight ends in doctor stoppage after accidental eye poke in Abu Dhabi
- La Voz Latina
- Oct 30
- 3 min read
Written by: Xavier Serrano🇵🇷
The ending to Saturday’s main event leaves Ciryl Gane’s title prospect in question after an accidental eye poke against Tom Aspinall in their championship bout in the main event of UFC 321 on Oct. 25, 2025.
The heavyweight division finds itself adding on the streak of misfortunes with the recent bout between current champion Aspinall, now 15-3, and Gane, now 13-2. Now, the match between two of the best to determine the next heavyweight champion of the world was cut short due to an eye poke from Gane in the first round.
The first round was a competitive back-and-forth as Gane found himself getting the better of the exchanges in the later half of the first round –even drawing blood from Aspinall. Gane would find more success with his strikes landing at a 75% accuracy rate, while the champion didn’t give Gane room to breathe; staying on the gas.
After the eye poke of doom, Aspinall would be given five minutes of recovery time as officials entered the octagon to see if the champion could continue. Aspinall used up a good chunk of his recovery time before officials called off the fight.
Jeers rained down from fans in the arena once MMA referee Jason Herzog threw up the X.
The fighters would be met with online criticism from MMA critics and keyboard warriors for the controversial ending. The community did not hold back on Gane due to his past reputation for fouls, including hammer strikes to the back of the head in previous fights.
The ending to Saturday’s main event did not do Gane any justice.
After being inactive for a year due to a knee injury and fight complications, Aspinall would bounce back with a few wins, claiming a vacant heavyweight championship along the way. The controversy surrounding the champion stems from the idea of Aspinall taking the easy way out in his title fight at UFC 321.
MMA fans took to the comments on social media to voice their opinions surrounding the ending to the fight– claiming Aspinall was behind on the score cards and did what was necessary to stay champion.
“All the 160lb 5’5 dudes in the comments saying Tom took the easy way out when Gane went 2 knuckles deep in both eye sockets is straight comedy” @itsbrza commented on Instagram.
“Tom was definitely bloodied up and was getting out classed by Gane” said. @bhumik.rawat on Instagram.
Former title holder Jon Jones would tease a fight against Aspinall for the belt, which would have been a real treat for fans, but never materialized due to Jones’s retirement. Fans were left imagining how the young up-and-comer Aspinall might have matched up against the greatest of all time. Many fans branded Jones a “duck” for retiring before ever fighting Aspinall, implying he avoided the matchup.
Being that Cyril Gane seemingly had the upper hand in the exchanges of the first round, fight fans presumed the fight with Jones and Aspinall would play out similarly, if not worse. Despite the main event of UFC 321 never coming to a full conclusion, some sections of the MMA community write off Aspinall as the winner, as they argue the eye poke saved the champion.
Fans are speculating these two athletes will rematch for the title next year in early January or the summer, although there is nothing confirmed yet by UFC President Dana White.