Francis Ngannou thinks Tom Aspinall was in a no-win situation after an eye poke ended his first title defense as UFC heavyweight champion.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was rendered unable to continue after Ciryl Gane accidentally poked him in the eye in Round 1 of their title fight at UFC 321. Many pundits and fighters questioned the severity of Aspinall’s eye injury which Ngannou thinks is unfair.
He thinks had Aspinall continued, he would have likely been criticized if he lost the fight.
“I think that eye poke made a lot of news – more than the fight itself, more than the announcement of the fight,” Ngannou told TMZ Sports. “It was a very controversial feeling, and I understand there was a lot of frustration from the fans’ side who were so excited to see the outcome. But there was definitely an eye poke, and it compromised the vision of Tom. So the normal decision in that position is not to fight.
“Because the eye poke is not like you get kicked in the balls and you can recover and come back. It compromises your vision. If you’re doing a combat sport with compromised vision, it’s not good at all … What if your vision is compromised? Then maybe because of that, something happens, you lose the fight. The same people will say how stupid you were, you should have stopped, blah, blah, blah.”
UFC CEO Dana White said Aspinall and Gane are expected to run things back as soon as Aspinall is cleared to compete by doctors. Days after the fight, Aspinall’s father claimed his son still had compromised vision.
