Tom Aspinall had a vested interest in the UFC White House co-main event between Ciryl Gane and Alex Pereira because the winner claimed the interim heavyweight title to set up a future fight against him after his eye is fully healed from surgery.
The reigning heavyweight king hasn’t fought since this past October when a brutal eye poke ended his own fight with Gane, which was declared a no-contest. While Aspinall recovers, he watched the fights on Sunday night where Gane dispatched Pereira in impressive
fashion with a standing knockout in the second round.
While Gane certainly made a statement with his performance, Aspinall couldn’t help but notice that the French heavyweight blasted Pereira with several elbows and punches that appeared to land to the back of the head, which are illegal.
“[The elbows] look a bit illegal,” Aspinall said while watching the fight on his YouTube channel. “They look very illegal. What is going on? Dropped him with a jab and he’s swinging now trying to finish him.”
Gane continued his assault until he just began hammering away at Pereira and the referee had no choice but to stop the fight and rescue Pereira before he absorbed any further damage.
Leading into the UFC White House card, Pereira was the center of attention as one of the biggest stars not to mention UFC CEO Dana White going as far as saying he would become the greatest of all-time with a win to become the first ever three-division champion in company history.
Obviously none of that happened with Gane looking better than ever as he dispatched Pereira inside two rounds. Still, Aspinall couldn’t help but remark at the barrage of fouls landed before the finish.
“He looked good,” Aspinall said about Gane. “I have to watch that again. Looked like there was a lot of illegal elbows going on. Illegal punches but generally he looked good.”
Following the win, Gane never mentioned Aspinall by name but he made it very clear that he’s ready for the rematch as soon as the UFC heavyweight champion is ready to go again. In fact, Gane suggested running it back with Aspinall when the UFC returns to Paris in September.
That would require Aspinall to step into enemy territory to defend his belt but he didn’t blink when he heard Gane issue the challenge.
“Paris in September? I’ll do that,” Aspinall responded. “Let me know. I don’t mind. I’ll go to Paris. Let me know. I’ll be there.” That sounds like good news for Aspinall, who still hasn’t said if he’s been cleared to return to action but it appears he’s ready to get back to work as early as September to settle unfinished business with Gane.
