Before Saturday night’s UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi, many expected the Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane fight to end in a knockout or on the ground. Hardly anyone thought it would go the distance. And unsurprisingly, it didn’t. But this was no ordinary early ending. The French heavyweight started strong, stuffing Aspinall’s takedown attempt and even managing to leave the Brit with a bloody nose. But then everything changed.

As the first round neared its end, Gane poked Aspinall in both of his eyes simultaneously. Ritualistically, referee Jason Herzog awarded five minutes for the Brit to recover, but the fight ended in a no-contest when Aspinall claimed he couldn’t see. He was rushed to the hospital for further check-up and treatment. Interestingly, Tom Aspinall’s team captured this entire trip to the hospital on camera and shared it with the public. 

Tom Aspinall reveals a warning from Herzog during the fight

After arriving at the hospital with his team and father/trainer Andy Aspinall, the UFC heavyweight champion revealed the extent of his injury. “He went near enough knuckle deep. I could feel how deep he was in the eye,” he said in the video. Moments later, he added that Herzog had already warned Gane about eye pokes before the fight was halted. “‘Keep his fingers closed,’ the ref said. And he’s nearly poked me in the eye before,” Aspinall recalled.

Despite his confession, many fans on social media refused to believe him—and understandably so, as the Octagon audio hadn’t yet been closely analyzed. That’s when sleuths from r/UFC stepped in. They broke down the footage frame by frame and discovered the exact moment referee Jason Herzog warned Ciryl Gane to be careful. “To everyone saying that Ciryl was not warned by Herzog at the beginning of the fight,” they wrote while sharing the clip.

In the footage, Herzog can be heard saying, “Watch your finger, Ciryl,” as the fighters felt each other out at the start of the bout. Once Reddit users uncovered this, the platform erupted with fans demanding strict action against the former interim heavyweight champion—a disqualification.

Ciryl Gane feels the heat as fans raise their voices

After the clip highlighted Herzog’s warning, Ciryl Gane was in trouble. One user alleged that Gane may have done it on purpose. “If you’re verbally warning someone and then it happens, it should be a point, and if the fight can’t continue from that foul, it should be a DQ. Period,” the user wrote. The user also added, “Because if someone tells you to stop and you continue, that makes it intentional imo.”

Meanwhile, the next user claimed there was no need for proof of warning from the referee. “Yeah, this is stupid. They know [the] rules beforehand,” the user wrote, suggesting eye pokes are not allowed to begin with. The user added, “Was Mike Tyson warned first before he bit Holyfield’s ear off? Someone should have let him know you can’t do that!” However, the incident in this case was accidental. 

The next user suggested the clip puts Gane’s accidental eye poke in a different light. “I think it makes it harder to interpret it as an accident when you know he was warned,” the user commented. But why would Gane jeopardize his own opportunity to win the title? 

Someone else mocked Gane using the warning from the referee. “Maybe he heard, ‘Use your fingers, Ciryl!” the user wrote sarcastically. It’s a biting comment—and one that captures the growing frustration among fans.

While everyone was turning on Ciryl Gane, this user had other ideas. “Tom’s eye wasn’t even red,” the user commented. “Dude could’ve fought on. No heart, was scared that he was gonna go deep into the second round. Fraud.” Only Aspinall knows what it was like after the eye poke, something no one else can confirm. 

Regardless of how the fight ended, though, Dana White has confirmed that there will be a rematch between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane to settle the debate. Hopefully, the rematch would be free of any such incidents. Whose fault do you think it was?