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Following UFC 321, some wild criticisms have been aimed at Tom Aspinall. The undisputed UFC heavyweight champion had his first title defense end in a no contest after he couldn’t see due to being poked in both of his eyes. Despite the footage of the replays being difficult to watch, some fellow fighters have accused Aspinall of quitting because he didn’t continue the bout. This talking point has received plenty of pushback, with Aspinall’s own team speaking about it in the days after Saturday night in Abu Dhabi. Another one of the Brit’s previous fights has also been called into question by his rival in previously unreleased footage that was recently posted on social media. Tom Aspinall’s dad explains him ‘giving up’ in loss to Stuart Austin in 2015 It didn’t take long for Jon Jones to comment on Tom Aspinall’s first title defense following the disappointing end to UFC 321. The health update provided by Aspinall’s father on Tuesday shows just how significant the simultaneous eye pokes that he received in the first round were. One talking point about the Brit quitting that seems to be less divisive is the fight that Jon Jones brought up in an interview from earlier this year. With defeats by disqualification and injury on his record, the one significant defeat that Aspinall has suffered in his 19-fight pro MMA career is a heel hook loss to Stuart Austin in June of 2015. Jones’ claim that Aspinall tapped “immediately” was seemingly supported by the heavyweight champion’s father in the recent video that was posted on YouTube. Andy Aspinall, who is also his son’s coach, referenced the Austin loss when discussing the narrative that he quit on Saturday night while adding an important part of information that Aspinall himself doesn’t like to bring up. “He never gives up in sparring. He’s lost one fight where he gave up to a heel hook 10 years ago maybe. After the fight, he went to the hospital and he had kidney stones and he stayed in for a few nights and the reason he gave up was he was tired or the heel hook hurt him, but whatever. He never gives up. “He don’t tell anybody that but that’s by the by, isn’t it? It was good for him to lose because he’d not lost. So, he loses the fight and so what? It’s just a fight. It’s a sport. A team wins and a team loses and that’s what happens, so there was no problem with that.” Tom Aspinall’s dad addresses the visuals of UFC 321 As Tom Aspinall’s cornerman said in his post about some of the criticism, it seems like some people’s expectations for the UFC 321 main event impacted how they reflected on it. Many expected the champion to beat Ciryl Gane in dominant fashion, so when the fight was competitive in the first round, it led to a lot of questions regarding the Brit. His nose was bloody by the time the fight was stopped, and while some may use this to argue their point of him quitting, Aspinall’s father says he didn’t even realize it had happened. “He goes, ‘No, I thought it was sweat.’ Tom bursts his nose quite often. It’s just a burst nose, so what? Madness. That’s the world we live in. Mad.” As discussed in the video, Aspinall has been so dominant inside the Octagon that the slightest bit of adversity led to an overreaction.
