“Only Tom knows what happened. Could he see? Couldn’t he see? Only he knows,” that’s what Dana White said after Tom Aspinall’s UFC 321 fight. While it may have been just a thought from the UFC CEO, seems like Aspinall wasn’t quite fond of those comments.

“I think they could have dealt with it a little bit better,” said Tom Aspinall during an interview with The Stomping Ground. “But it’s their business, mate, that’s what you’ve got to go with it. Everyone’s got their own opinion, so what are you going to do?

Something that I’ve learned from this whole injury thing and the backlash that I’ve got and stuff like that, mate, you’ve got to make as much money and be as ruthless as possible. Nobody in there is your friend, and you’ve got to capitalize on the time that you’ve got in the sport, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

The Etihad Arena, hosting the UFC 321 event, wasn’t ready for such a dramatic ending. Aspinall entered the octagon for his first heavyweight title defense fight, but who knew it would end in a no-contest? The reason behind that was constant eye pokes coming from his opponent, Ciryl Gane, for which the Brit was unable to continue.

To that end, Aspinall had to undergo double eye surgery and is now in the rehabilitation stage. Amid that, the Brit is exploring other opportunities outside the UFC. As such, Aspinall has somewhat realligned his alliances. And who knew he would join one of White’s rivals?

The UFC heavyweight champion joined Eddie Hearn‘s Matchroom Talent Agency just hours before sharing his thoughts on White’s comments. And for that, one might speculate a rift between Aspinall and White. Is there one?

Dana White clarifies comments on Tom Aspinall’s injury

Surely, Dana White’s comments on Tom Aspinall‘s injury seemed cryptic in the eyes of the community. But the UFC CEO has clarified his intentions were not to hurt the heavyweight champion’s feelings. But has it left such an impact that Aspinall would reconsider his alliances and not fight in the UFC? No, according to White, that will not be the case as he holds no bad blood against the Brit.

“The company has talked to him. I haven’t talked to him,” said White during an interview with Piers Morgan. “Tom and I obviously need to talk. He came out recently saying that they felt like I had sort of s**t on him in the way that I had spoken about his eye injury, which was absolutely positively not the case. Tom Aspinall is a guy that I respect. He has been great to work with.

Never once did I question his injury or speak negatively about it. He is still dealing with whatever’s going on with his eyes, and obviously, over the last 30 years of being in this business, I’ve seen injuries that I’ve questioned whether guys would come back from, and they always have, including eye pokes. If you ask me, sitting right here, right now, if Tom Aspinall will compete again, I would say yes.”

As of now, the return timeline of Aspinall is hard to speculate, as there is no definite timeline for the recovery of his eye injuries. Amid his recovery, the heavyweight is actively making career moves outside the octagon. With Alex Pereira moving up and Jon Jones potentially returning from retirement, other contenders are calling for an interim title fight. However, the promotion is yet to make a call on the championship fights.

That said, it will be interesting to see whether UFC waits for Aspinall to return or announces an interim title fight. On that note, who do you think fights in a potential interim heavyweight title bout? Let us know in the comments below!