Dana White seemed uncertain about some aspects regarding how Tom Aspinall’s UFC 321 played out and indicated as such during a presser in the wake of the October 25th fight playing out. Aspinall was poked in the eye by former UFC interim champion Ciryl Gane with the UFC heavyweight championship fight being declared a no contest after the reigning titleholder Aspinall indicated he could not see.
At the post-fight press conference following the Abu Dhabi-based pay-per-view over the weekend, White did mention how there would likely be a fair bit more intrigue in a rematch as Ciryl Gane entered a pretty noticable underdog. But the French fighter’s effort was more pronounced than many thought and in a way that belied the perceptions of oddsmakers heading in. Touching on the anticlimactic nature of the main event fight and making comments on the current UFC heavyweight champion, White said,
He had Tom bloodied up and Tom didn’t want to continue in the fight. Only Tom knows what happened. Could he see, couldn’t he see, could he continue? Only he knows that.
Dana White calls re-booking Aspinall vs. Gane as a “total pain in the a**”
While Dana White mentioned there would be more interest in an Aspinall vs. Gane sequel clash he also wasn’t shy in hiding that it was a frustrating situation for him. Within the same post-fight press conference embedded above, Dana White touched upon his thoughts on the first fight and how he perceives this rematch for the heavyweight title between Aspinall and Gane, White stated [via MMA Mania],
I feel the way everybody feels — great showing, shitty ending. After the Jon Jones fight, a lot of people wrote Ciryl Gane off, but he looked damn good tonight.
It looked like we were in for a few rounds, and it was going to be a good fight… I can’t make people fight. You definitely can’t make somebody continue if they feel they’ve been injured.
Yeah. Total pain in the a**, but yes. What makes sense is to do the rematch. Anything can happen, but right here, right now — and being honest, which I never do when talking about fights — the rematch makes sense.
They’re both in shape, other than whatever’s wrong with his eye. Both guys are not injured. [We’ll make it happen] as soon as possible.
