One illegal eye poke at UFC 321 didn’t just stop a title fight; it ignited a firestorm that dragged the UFC president, an injured champion, and a former titleholder into a public war of words. The no-contest decision regarding Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane was already the source of discussions. The controversy escalated when Dana White questioned whether the Briton could have continued despite being poked in both eyes.

Their heavyweight title fight at UFC 321 was waved off just 4:35 into Round 1 after Ciryl Gane accidentally drove his fingers into both of Aspinall’s eyes, producing only the second no-contest in UFC title-fight history and instantly freezing the division. The dispute drew sharp reactions from across the sport, including a blunt reality check from a former two-division UFC champion who has navigated the politics of the fight business better than most.

White had already called the outcome a “pain in the a**” at the post-fight presser and, in later interviews, suggested that “Tom didn’t want to continue” and that there was “no damage to the eye.” These were comments Aspinall flatly contradicted once his medical notes went public.

The UFC brass’s directness immediately turned the aftermath into a war of views. Aspinall fought back fiercely, arguing that he was not going to take a chance on his eyesight. Amid this turbulent scenario, the MMA world’s most provocative strategy expert, Henry Cejudo, also made his furious contribution to the debate.

That wasn’t just emotion talking. Aspinall later shared hospital documents confirming “significant traumatic bilateral Brown’s syndrome” in both eyes, along with a possible orbital wall fracture. He’s dealing with double vision, restricted eye movement, and documented visual field loss, and doctors have barred him from any MMA training until his sight returns to normal, with surgery still on the table if it doesn’t.

Henry Cejudo, the former Olympic gold medalist and then UFC champion, recently joined the debate with the distinctive “listen, kid” energy that only he can showcase. He pointed out that Aspinall’s replying to Dana White is never the right thing to do and told everyone that White is not only the promoter but also the boss, the one who makes the calls, and the person you never want to be on the bad side of.

“The biggest thing that Tom needs to take from all this is he has to remember that Dana White’s a promoter. He’s a fighter. Dana White has never fought in the cage before.”

Cejudo even pointed to his own history, recalling how he went through something similar with Marlon Moraes: “So once my mentor told me that because I was p****d at Dana, too. . I beat Marlon Morales with the torn of the labor. It happened in the fight, fought with the sprain of the ankle. But when it comes to your eye, it’s just different. So I don’t think you would be able to ever take anything personal because you’re an employee under the boss.”

“So don’t fight with him, bro. It is what it is. That’s probably what makes Dana a good promoter. He’s going to say what he feels. And the more important, honestly, I appreciate it.”

Cejudo’s point was that there’s no upside in trading shots with Dana because the man speaks his mind, something Cejudo says he’s learned to actually appreciate.

Henry Cejudo calls out Dana White after advising Tom Aspinall to stay quiet

Henry Cejudo didn’t let too much time pass before he contradicted his own advice. After he cautioned Tom Aspinall not to engage with Dana White and to maintain a professional attitude with the UFC president, Cejudo proceeded to launch his own attacks on White and the athletic commissions, with regard to the eye-poke regulations in the sport.

The irony was not subtle at all, and it made the current debate on the topic of fighter safety a lot more complex. Cejudo did not hold back and sharply criticized the powers that be when he remarked that they have been going very slowly in fixing the rules that allow dangerous pokes to be unpunished.

“I get a warning, like, that’s not fair, everybody needs to f***** man up and step up and create this, make this (change) official. Someone could lose an eye,” Cejudo stated in the interview.

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He didn’t stop there. Cejudo made it clear that a simple warning after an eye poke isn’t enough, especially when a fighter’s long-term vision could be at stake.

“It needs to be immediate and if not, man, people need to be held accountable for that stuff, if I was to lose an eye, dude, f—. Imagine that, like ‘Oh yeah, dude’s a warrior’, oh okay, well who’s going to give my eye back? Everybody needs to step up, including Dana White.”

Cejudo’s remarks were a sharp rebuttal, particularly after he advised Aspinall not to even engage in verbal sparring with White. Rather than being a part of the drama, he went in the opposite direction and insisted on real consequences, real rule changes, and real accountability.

The contradiction might be very loud, but so is the message: when an eye-poke can change a career for good, even the company loyalists are not keeping quiet anymore.