Jon Jones and Alex Pereira called each other out after an eye poke brought an unexpectedly early end to Tom Aspinall’s UFC heavyweight title defence against Ciryl Gane.
The Briton was defending the undisputed title for the first time when he was poked in both eyes simultaneously in the first round in Abu Dhabi.
A five-minute break was called for him to be checked over and ultimately it was decided that he could not continue, with the fight ruled a ‘no contest’.
Fans in the Etihad Arena booed the end to their entertainment with a splenetic Aspinall retorting, “I just got poked knuckled-deep in the eyeball. What the f***, why are you booing? What am I supposed to do about it? I didn’t do the poke, I can’t see!
“This is bulls***. The fight was just getting going. Look at this, a double eye poke,” he added, motioning at a slow-motion replay of the incident on the big screen.
With the contest over essentially before it had started, both Pereira and Jones then took the opportunity to make a bid to feature in the UFC’s planned event at the White House this summer.
“Let’s make the heavyweight division great again,” Pereira wrote on Instagram.
Jones responded on X (formerly Twitter): “Alex, I’d be down to bring the highest skill level to the White House. I appreciate the respect you showed, let’s dance.”
Jones won the heavyweight belt in 2023 and defended it before retiring from MMA this year, repeatedly refusing to fight Aspinall and ultimately choosing to retire rather than defend the title again.
But he has indicated he would come out of retirement to face Pereira at the White House in a clear dig at the Briton.
Pereira is UFC light heavyweight champion and has expressed a desire to move up to heavyweight for his next fight after beating Magomed Anaklaev at UFC 320.
