Tom Aspinall‘s much-awaited return to the UFC was ended prematurely by injury during his heavyweight title defence against Ciryl Gane.
The Briton stepped back into the Octagon after 15 months away, now with the title of undisputed heavyweight champion to his name after his pursuit of Jon Jones, his predecessor, ended in ‘Bones’’ retirement back in June, which was announced by UFC president Dana White.
That elevated Aspinall, the interim champion, up to undisputed, and after months away, he was handed No1-ranked challenged Gane at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
The first round started superbly for the Frenchman, who landed licks and kicks and piled the pressure on the champ, rather than keeping his distance.
He evaded the takedown attempt from Aspinall halfway through the first round, before the incident happened during a striking exchange.
Gane overreached and accidentally landed two fingers in both of Aspinall’s eyes, forcing the Briton to stagger to the edge of the cage and promptly tell the referee twice that he “couldn’t f****** see”.
After close medical attention, the advice from Octagon-side doctors was for the fight to be called off, much to the crowd’s annoyance.
Gane himself was furious, told to compose himself by the referee as Bruce Buffer prepared to make the no contest official over the microphone.
Aspinall had entered with such swagger; ‘Supersonic’ by Oasis blared, and he was greeted by a rapturous ovation. The king was back. Until he wasn’t.
The 32-year-old himself may not have been able to see what was happening before him, but he was seeing red as he angrily questioned the crowd’s booing.
All is not lost, with Aspinall still able to call himself the undisputed heavyweight champ, but this will hurt - physically and mentally - as a repeat is set to be arranged.
Elsewhere on the card, Brazil’s Mackenzie Dern won the vacant UFC strawweight title against the top-ranked Virna Jandiroba, while England’s Nathaniel Wood secured a huge victory in the prelims.
His compatriot Louie Sutherland, making his UFC debut, was submitted in the first round.
