Tom Aspinall wants to create a narrative about his fight against Ciryl Gane. Perhaps deservedly so. However, former Bellator champion and UFC star Ben Askren isn’t buying what ‘The Honey Badger’ is selling. This comes after Aspinall squared off against Gane in a heavyweight title fight in October at UFC 321. But unlike the action expected, fans were served with an accidental eye poke, which left the Brit unable to continue. 

Of course, the bout was ruled a no-contest. And ever since, the Brit has dealt with a wave of criticism from fans. He addressed it directly on Instagram, writing, “Thanks for all the love, support & memes,🖕the hate. Coming to get my revenge on the big cheater.” He also posted a medical report indicating he suffered “significant bilateral ocular trauma.” Still, Aspinall didn’t let it go, once again accusing Gane of being a cheater.

Tom Aspinall ropes in Jon Jones to dunk on Ciryl Gane

Earlier today, the 32-year-old released a video on his YouTube channel answering questions from fans. When asked whether he believes Gane intentionally poked him in the eye, Aspinall said he first thought it was accidental—but after reviewing the footage, he’s convinced the French heavyweight had bad intentions. “The guy was trying to poke my eyes out all the way through that round,” Aspinall said.

“Multiple exchanges, nearly every exchange that I could put him in danger, he had his fingers out pointing towards my eyes,” he added. “The guy was cheating from the first second, and the way that he wanted to win that fight was to have me compromised by cheating.” It’s worth noting that Ciryl Gane appeared to have the upper hand in the opening round, even landing a kick that caused Aspinall to bleed.

Regardless, Tom Aspinall also included a clip of his father and trainer, Andy Aspinall, watching the fight and arriving at a similar conclusion. “I’ve just seen that every time his hand comes out. It does this, and it’s wrong,” Andy said in the video. When asked for his opinion of Gane as a fighter, Aspinall remained blunt. “My thoughts on him? I think he’s a big cheater,” he said, even bringing Jon Jones into the discussion.

“Even the GOAT himself said before he fought him that Ciryl Gane is a cheater and uses dirty tactics,” Aspinall claimed before cutting to Jones’ comments. “I’ve noticed in a lot of Ciryl Gane’s fights. He hits people in the back of the head quite a bit, and I didn’t want any type of dirty play happening on such a big night,” Jones had said after their March 2023 matchup at UFC 285. Notably, though, Jones has been poking fun at Aspinall for the eye poke incident.

Besides, Jones himself isn’t known as the cleanest fighter. He infamously poked Daniel Cormier in the eye and later joked about it. Still, the clip of Aspinall’s comments was shared on X by Championship Rounds, where Ben Askren picked it up and pointed out the consequences of Aspinall’s accusations against Gane. “This is so whiny,” Askren wrote, calling it a “Bad look” for the heavyweight champion.

Circling back to Aspinall and Gane, eye pokes aren’t anything new, so how does the UFC plan to tackle the issue? 

Dana White can’t see a clear solution

Dana White can’t see a clear solution to the UFC’s eye poke problem, but he insists the promotion has to try something after the controversy at UFC 321. The Aspinall-Gane incident has pushed the UFC boss to revisit the issue once again. “Getting poked in the eye by anybody isn’t good,” White said on the Triggernometry podcast. 

He noted that the promotion has already “messed around with gloves” and “tried to do all these things.” While he doesn’t believe eye pokes can ever be fully eliminated, he thinks stricter consequences could force fighters to be more aware. “If there’s harder penalties for doing it, guys would be a lot more conscious of it.”

Still, White remains realistic. “It’s never going to go away… It’s not like we’re going to create some f—ing invention that nobody can get eye poked again.”

Whether Gane is a cheater or not, the eye poke problem doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. But as Askren highlighted, do you think Aspinall’s continued accusations against Gane make him look bad?