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Tom Aspinall’s highly-anticipated first title defence has ended in devastating fashion, with an accidental eye poke from Ciryl Gane seeing it ruled a no contest. UFC 322: Della Maddalena vs Makhachev | SUN 16 NOV 2PM AEDT | Australia’s own Jack Della Maddalena puts his welterweight title on the line against Pound for Pound great and former lightweight champ Islam Makhachev in a blockbuster night of fights, live from New York City. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. It meant the reigning champion retained his title, but a furious Aspinall sounded off in his post-fight interview, having waited so long for a chance to get back in the octagon only to have it taken away from him in dramatic fashion. “Guys, I just got poked knuckle deep in the eyeball. What the f***? Why are you booing?” he said. “What am I supposed to do about it? I didn’t do the f***ing poke. I can’t see. This is bulls***. The fight was just getting going. Complete bulls***. “I’m pissed off. I can hardly open my eye.” An apologetic Gane, meanwhile, said he was “very sorry” for the eye poke after the fight, conceding he was “a little bit disappointed” that it ended the way it did. “We put a lot of energy into this fight,” he added. Gane, who lost to former heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 285, had put himself back in the position for another shot at the title after back-to-back wins against Serghei Spivac and Alexander Volkov. Aspinall, meanwhile, was making his long-awaited return to the octagon having been upgraded from interim to undisputed champion in June after Jones finally retired. Aspinall had spent 19 months in limbo as interim champion as he waited for a potential fight with Jones to eventuate, but after a long wait it was Gane who he was matched up against instead. Aspinall entered Sunday’s main event averaging an all-time UFC record low of two minutes and two seconds of fight time and it looked like, at least based on the early exchanges in the first round, that this was going to be the biggest challenge of his career. Former interim lightweight title holder Dustin Poirier had said earlier in the week that he was “not sold” on the hype surrounding Aspinall since the Brit had yet to be taken in the deep end, having finished the majority of his fights within the first round. Unfortunately for Aspinall, he didn’t get a chance to prove he could outlast someone like Gane, with attention now turning to when the two could potentially fight next in a rematch. EMOTIONAL SCENES AS DERN CROWNED CHAMPION The moment Mackenzie Dern stepped in the octagon, expectations were high and while it came later than expected, she is finally a UFC champion. Dern was taken down seven times on Sunday but her superior striking proved too much for Virna Jandiroba as the American claimed the vacant women’s strawweight title. Dern did plenty of damage from her back throughout the fight and in the moments she hadn’t been taken down, she looked the more dangerous striker too. Sunday morning’s title fight was a long time coming for Dern, who looked at various points to be on track for a shot at UFC gold since entering the sport in 2016. She entered the UFC on a five-fight win streak and then scored wins over Ashley Yoder and Amanda Cooper, only to suffer her first loss at the hands of an Amanda Ribas striking clinic. That was Dern’s first fight since the birth of her daughter in early 2019, and the American went on to then claim four-straight wins before a loss to Marina Rodriguez and has struggled to put consecutive victories together since that point. But back-to-back wins in the past two years, including one in the rematch against Ribas which saw Dern claim the Performance of the Night award, put her back in the frame for a title shot. With Zhang Weili out of the picture after challenging Valentina Schevchenko at flyweight, the strawweight division had suddenly opened up with a chance for a new challenger to reign supreme. That now is Dern, who was joined by daughter Moa in the octagon in emotional scenes after being crowned the champion. “It feels amazing. I can’t believe this,” Dern said after the fight. “It wasn’t the fight I expected. I thought that it was going to be a little bit easier honestly, just because I beat Virna the last time and she came out really tough. “I knew she would get the takedowns... I’m glad that they’re starting to see a difference when they’re stalling and when they’re actually doing damage stuff. I think I did a lot of damage on the ground. I think we did a little bit of everything.” AUSSIE SALKILLD STUNS WITH ‘TERRIFYING’ KO OF YEAR CONTENDER If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Nasrat Haqparast was the one taking the fight on 10 days’ notice. But in just his third UFC fight, Quillan Salkilld has well and truly put himself in the frame for a shot at a much higher ranked opponent next after sending Haqparast crashing to the canvas with a contender for Knockout of the Year. In concerning scenes, Haqparast was left unconscious for several minutes after a perfectly-timed head kick from Salkilld put him out cold. Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier described it as “one of the craziest knockouts” he had seen “in a very long time” and speaking to Cormier in the octagon after the fight, Salkilld called for the $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus. “I’m just happy to be here,” Salkilld said. “10 days’ notice, a 13-kilo cut, wicked opponent, a big step up for me, and for it to end like that I think I definitely deserve a bonus after that 100 per cent. Salkilld is now 3-0 in the UFC and 10-1 as a pro, having exploded onto the scene in the UFC with a vicious 19-second finish of Anshul Jubli. The Australian told Cormier he wants a “opponent in the top 15” next. “I understand, it’s only my third fight and if there’s someone else, but my eyes are on the top 15 on the rankings,” he said. Originally published as ‘What the f***?’: UFC champ Tom Aspinall slams crowd after ‘absolute bulls***’ end to title fight
