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Tom Aspinall was quickly becoming one of the most popular fighters on the UFC roster after he became undisputed heavyweight champion, but he’s suddenly facing criticism after he was unable to continue following an eye poke delivered by Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 The disappointing conclusion was undoubtedly a tough pill to swallow, especially for the fans in attendance in Abu Dhabi and those who paid to watch the pay-per-view, but Aspinall wasn’t to blame. In fact, UFC legend Matt Brown blasted any criticism aimed at Aspinall for saying he couldn’t fight after the eye poke, which resulted in the main event being declared a no-contest. “I’ve really been disgusted with that narrative that you’re talking about where everybody’s blaming Tom Aspinall,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Where did this come from? How did he do anything wrong? People saying ‘oh should have just sucked it up with one eye.’ Get the f*ck out of here. What are you talking about? We’re not in a death match. This isn’t f*cking like Street Fighter. It’s not a video game. This is a professional competition. He wants to win and give himself the best chance of winning. “For one, I think Tom Aspinall would have continued had there been the right circumstance. Like if his life was on the line or something but he’s like ‘I can’t see out of my eye.’ He probably couldn’t see out of his other eye very well either. The one that got knuckle f*cking deep. It’s like live to fight another day. Try again. If this was anything other than this match, I don’t think it wouldn’t even be talked about that way. This particular match, the circumstances just added up where now Tom Aspinall is an easy target.” Fighters getting fouled and not being able to continue isn’t a common occurrence in combat sports but lately it seems like those athletes are being punished in the court of public opinion. Aljamain Sterling dealt with intense hatred after he got blasted with an illegal knee in his title fight against Petr Yan, which forced a stoppage. The result ended up crowning Sterling as champion, but he was constantly accused of quitting in the fight rather than moving forward after it appeared Yan was cruising towards a victory. The same goes for Belal Muhammad after he endured a gruesome eye poke in his first fight against Leon Edwards. Afterwards, Muhammad faced criticism that he should have continued and only stopped because he lost the first round and the momentum was in Edwards’ corner. Obviously both of those fighters vehemently disagreed and ironically Sterling went onto defeat Yan in the rematch, and the same goes for Muhammad when he finally met Edwards again. Maybe that same thing happens when Aspinall runs it back with Gane, but Brown knows that the reigning UFC heavyweight champion made the best choice for his career even if he’s being publicly crucified for not pushing forward with one eye this past Saturday. “What sucks is he’s almost in a lose-lose situation at that point,” Brown said about Aspinall. “The only saving grace would have been if went out with one eye and ended up beating the shit out of Ciryl Gane. “If any other situation happens, it’s a loss for him. [If] he lost, they’re not going to be talking about him getting eye poked and couldn’t see and that’s why he lost.” Brown also responded to comments from analysts Chael Sonnen and Anthony Smith during the UFC 321 post-fight show where both admitted “you’ve got to fight with one eye at times.” While neither flat out accused Aspinall of seeking a way out of the fight, the idea that fighters have to push forward after being egregiously fouled was definitely discussed. “I love both those guys,” Brown said. “I almost hold back saying my real feelings, because I do actually respect and love both Anthony and Chael, especially Anthony, we’ve trained together and we’re friends. When I see Anthony, I really like the guy. I think he’s really smart, and I think he’s a great analyst, by the way. I just think they’re way off base here. “The fact that they said it straight away on the post-fight show, I don’t know if they didn’t put any thought into it or if it was just an immediate reaction. Because there’s probably a little bit of recency bias where they’re just disappointed the fight didn’t happen. In our heads, we all felt the same way. What about the people that paid $80 to watch it? They’re all like ‘I wanted to see a god*mn main event, I don’t care about your eye. I care about my $80.’ I get that recency bias, but you have to look at this realistically, too. Ciryl Gane’s finger went knuckle deep into his f*cking eye. This is not a complicated thing. The guy taking a foul getting punished, especially when it’s a f*cking eye poke?” The result in the fight already has UFC CEO Dana White declaring plans to book a rematch once Aspinall is cleared to compete again. That means Gane still has a chance to dethrone Aspinall and finish what got started at UFC 321. That said, Brown argues that the foul that Gane committed should have probably already cost him a loss on his record even if the UFC ultimately decides to run it back with Aspinall again. In his opinion, Brown doesn’t buy the idea that fouls deemed “unintentional” often result in no point deductions issued by the referee or in this instance, the fight is declared a no-contest. “We are in a sport now, not just a street fight. It is an actual sport,” Brown said. “There are rules. When one guy breaks the rules, the other guy should not deal with the punishment for that. It shouldn’t be a no-contest. It should be a disqualification. “If you want to set a standard, which is what rules are meant for, to have standards, then you follow that standard and you make a DQ. It doesn’t mean [Ciryl Gane] shouldn’t get another rematch. I think it would be fair to get another rematch but he should get a DQ here.”
