NEW YORK – Ciryl Gane didn't mean to call Tom Aspinall mentally fragile after he struggled with recovery.
Gane's (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) heavyweight title fight with Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) at UFC 321 last October ended in a no contest after Gane accidentally poked him in the eyes and rendered him unable to continue.
Aspinall has since underwent numerous surgeries, which resulted in him vacating his UFC heavyweight title
.In a French interview with "ZACK," Gane said Aspinall is mentally fragile but admitted immediately after that "fragile" is too strong of a word. He reiterated that "fragile" wasn't the correct phrasing.
"The context was we were talking about Tom, and how we prepared the camp for Tom, and we had a little thing we expected from
him, he was emotional," Gane said at Wednesday’s UFC 334 media day. "The good word was emotional, he was not fragile. Fragile wasn't a good word.
"He was really emotional. After the fight, he managed this with a lot of emotions. He tried to prove to the people that... I mean... Actually, I got sometimes into a bad position because people talk about me like a cheater, but I don't need to prove anything to anyone."
Gane was asked if he has to beat Aspinall to feel like undisputed champion.
"Yes of course," Gane said. "I hope a speedy recovery for him, and then we're going to have a rematch for sure. Everyone wants to see this fight."
Gane was promoted to undisputed champion after he claimed the interim belt with a finish of Alex Pereira at UFC Freedom 250 in June. The Frenchman expected to rematch Aspinall soon, but now finds himself making his first title defense against Josh Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in Saturday's UFC 334 (Paramount+) headliner at Madison Square Garden in New York.
"We were waiting for Tom Aspinall, unfortunately, so I hope for him a speedy recovery, but we were waiting for him – we fought in October, I thought it was possible to do it again November, after that Christmas or maybe January," Gane said. "We pushed, we pushed, we pushed. So, I was waiting for him. It was not possible, and I want to become a champion.
"I remember my coach called me and he was speaking about the training, he said, 'Hey, we forgot, but congrats, you're a champion.' I said, 'Thank you, see you this afternoon.' Nothing special. ... It's not about to prove, it's just the game is not finished. OK great, you're the champion, but what are you going to do tomorrow? You're going to win? You're going to lose? That's the main thing for me, to perform every time and to prove I'm one of the best of this division."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ciryl Gane clarifies calling Tom Aspinall mentally 'fragile'
