The eye poke debate continues.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall retained his title against Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 321 last night (Sat., Oct. 25, 2025) after their bout was ruled a no-contest as Aspinall was unable to continue following a nasty eye poke inside Etihad Arena on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi (watch it).
For some reason, in modern mixed martial arts (MMA), fighters are now expected to keep fighting no matter how compromised they are. We saw
it last weekend when Kevin Holland got kicked squarely below the belt — and even though he was in clear pain, he kept going.
On the flip side, Reinier de Ridder chose not to come out for the fifth round of his main event fight, and fans instantly labeled him a quitter.
Now, Aspinall is getting the same treatment — despite clearly being poked knuckle deep in the eye — and even former three-time title challenger turned analyst Chael Sonnen thinks he should have continued fighting.
“Being poked in the eye is illegal, but to fight with one eye is very common,” Sonnen said on the ESPN 321 post-show. “The opponent is trying to hit your eye; he’s trying to bust you up and make your nose bleed. So that part of it, it does have a question mark for guys like Anthony [Smith] and I. We are trying to be polite. We are trying to show grace, but in all fairness, you’re the Heavyweight champion of the world. You’ve got to fight with one eye at times.”
“I thought the fight was turning out to be a little bit harder than perhaps Tom expected,” Sonnen added. “My only concern — and this isn’t his fault — is that he’s so darn good. He’s finished six guys in the first round. He’s never been to a third round, for example. So the question becomes: how are you going to respond when things get tough?”
Sonnen then criticized how the situation looked cageside: “The way the cloth was being held on the eye and never removed — don’t forget, that cloth had an ice cube in it. It wasn’t a magic cloth that was going to cure a cornea. It was just being held on there oddly.”
Anthony Smith, who was also on the panel, echoed Sonnen’s sentiment. “I’m not saying it’s Tom’s fault, and I don’t know how bad it is or isn’t,” Smith said. “But Chael made a good point — you have to be willing to fight with one eye. I did it in Singapore. You never say ‘I can’t see’ if you want to continue a fight.”
Aspinall, however, deserves the benefit of the doubt. The close-up replay of that eye poke was brutal — and no one can fault a fighter for protecting their vision.
But hey, I guess the JUST BLEED fans are alive and kicking.
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