Ciryl Gane has finally been elevated from interim to undisputed champion after Tom Aspinall vacated the belt this month. Still, many aren’t convinced the Frenchman deserves to take the Brit’s place this way. ‘Bon Gamin’ continues to face criticism for not winning the title through an actual fight, while being branded a “cheater.”

On November 14th, Gane will make his first title defense against Josh Hokit in the UFC 334 main event at Madison Square Garden. But before making his first walk as champion, the Frenchman decided to push back on the ongoing narrative by aiming at his former adversary.

“Tom Aspinall was seen as a monster, really, like a freak of nature,” Gane told Zack Nanit TV in French. “But when you look at the numbers, it’s a different story. There are a lot of things that, even mentally… we knew he was a little mentally fragile. The way he celebrated after fights, his body language, etc. How he communicated and so on. We suspected he was a little fragile. Well, fragile is a strong word, but he was a little shaky. 

“Everything that happened after our fight confirms that the guy complains quite a bit. Brother, you got poked in the eye. You have the right to stop. That’s your right. Nobody knows how you experienced that pain. But you don’t need to do everything you did in terms of public statements, because it worked against him.”   

Ciryl Gane’s disdain for Tom Aspinall stems from the former champion remaining vocal about how the double eye poke at UFC 321 left him badly compromised. At first, the Brit thought the poke was accidental. But later, Aspinall alleged that Gane had tried to commit the foul multiple times throughout the first round before finally landing it. The Brit went further, accusing the Frenchman of trying to win by compromising him and labeled him a “big cheater.”

As time went on, the chorus of cheating allegations only grew louder. Journalists like Ariel Helwani and British broadcaster Adam Catterall argued the referee should have disqualified Gane instead of turning the bout into a no-contest.

However, the now-undisputed champion previously addressed the allegations at a UFC media day, saying everyone, Aspinall included, is entitled to their own “opinion.”

Almost a year after the incident, Aspinall made clear in his statement that it was Gane’s foul that ultimately forced him to vacate the title and step away from competition. Because of that, ‘Bon Gamin’ believes his former adversary is simply unwilling to accept the result of that fight and keeps dwelling on the foul.

In fact, the champion has pushed back on the cheating narrative further still, pointing out that fouls happen in nearly every fight card, and not everyone complains about them the way Aspinall has. 

Ciryl Gane defends himself against the ongoing “cheater” claim

Ciryl Gane accepts that his fight against Tom Aspinall suffered an unfortunate ending because of the eye poke, which he has firmly maintained was unintentional. Even so, being singled out as the “dirtiest UFC fighter” is seemingly starting to wear on him. For this, ‘Bon Gamin’ has decided to push back, arguing he’s far from the only one to commit fouls and that nearly every UFC fight deals with such issues. 

“Something happens almost every weekend,” Gane stated further. “Except they decided to focus on me every time, like he is a ‘cheater.’ No, but we don’t even talk about it. It happens so often. It’s not like I’m saying this to brush it off. It happens every weekend. Unfortunately, a shot to the groin because you throw a leg kick, but the guy ducks. Well, it’s interesting what happened with Jon Jones. 

“They say, like, he pokes, like Junior dos Santos, who does that when he turns his head. Obviously, he’s gonna hit the back of his head. You see, these things are trivial. It happens all the time. But you have no idea how much it happens. That’s something that happens during every fight. It’s our sport.” 

Gane isn’t wrong in saying fouls happen in almost every fight. The problem, though, is that they seem to happen far more often in his fights.

Alex Pereira has called him out for landing illegal rabbit punches to the back of the head at UFC White House in their co-main event bout. Plus, Jon Jones, no stranger to fighting dirty himself, called Gane out for a low blow during their UFC 285 title fight.

Industry experts like former UFC champion Demetrious Johnson have argued that Gane’s fighting style can lead to unintentional fouls, but it remains an open debate whether that alone earns him a pass.

That said, with Gane firing back at Aspinall ahead of his first title defense, it will be interesting to see how the Brit responds.