Ciryl Gane is a feeling all of the emotions after a strong start to his UFC 321 heavyweight title fight against Tom Aspinall ended via ‘No Contest’ in the first round, the result of a nasty double eye poke that left Aspinall unable to continue.
Things were just getting interesting when the fight ended, leaving a whole lot of frustrated people — Gane included. The French fighter discussed the botched title fight at the UFC 321 post-fight press conference.
“I think we started very well, because everybody
knows I start to jab, and every time he starts very hard to surprise his opponent,” he said. “I think we did well. Defending the takedown, I touched him. We saw some blood on his nose. It was a really great first round. That’s why I was a little bit disappointed, a little bit sad.”
“I really, really wanted to continue the fight,” Gane continued. “First of all, I was very angry because I don’t want him to stop the fight. After, I was disappointed. Sad. After that, apologetic for the people.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose and I know what it is to have an eye poke, because when I fought Derrick Lewis, I got an eye-poke and I was seeing two [of] Derrick Lewis for a full round. So I know how it is. I’m not going to say, ‘Yeah, he’s a liar.’”
As for a rematch, which UFC CEO Dana White has already committed to? Gane says he’ll defer to his team to handle that.
“It’s the team that will decided,” he said. “I’ll listen to my team, it’s as simple as that.”
