Dana White has no idea why Tom Aspinall isn’t happy with him following the fallout from UFC 321. That event saw the heavyweight champion suffer a double eye poke No Contest against Ciryl Gane, and it still has Aspinall seeing red over a month later.
Aspinall faced a lot of backlash for being unable to continue in Abu Dhabi, and he feels White’s casual comments regarding the condition of his eyes only reinforced the perception that he quit.
“I was very disappointed,” he said on the Ariel Helwani Show.
“Very disappointed. Definitely didn’t help with the cause … He started giving updates that there’s nothing wrong with my eye, when that isn’t the case. I’ve done a lot for the UFC, so yeah, disappointed.”
“I get it,” White said at the UFC 323 post-fight press conference when asked about Aspinall’s mood following the incident. “I don’t remember exactly what I said. What did I say? I think his eyes are OK? I know Tom said I haven’t even talked to him and all this stuff. But we have people all over him right now, checking up on him, making sure he’s good, does he need any help or any specialists.”
“I’m no doctor. I’m just saying what I’ve heard. It wasn’t said in a way [to be detrimental], ‘I said I think he’s fine.’ It wasn’t like that. I said I think Tom’s eyes are good, he’s going to take some time, heal and come back. That’s all I said. I wasn’t saying anything negative towards him.”
“I think that things can be taken out of context or he didn’t see what I said because I don’t even know what the f—k I said. But never once did I say anything negative about him or in a derogatory way. I’m sure he’s upset and he’s fired up. He’ll get better and we’ll get him back in there.”
Hopefully cooler heads will prevail as the UFC heavyweight division has gone through too much over the past five years to have another heavyweight champion feuding with the promotion. As of now Aspinall is on the sidelines unable to train until a doctor clears him. That could be a while, so for those hoping to see Aspinall vs. Gane 2 soon? You might want to prepare for that not being the case.
