ABU DHABI (Reuters) -Tom Aspinall’s first defence of his undisputed UFC heavyweight crown against Ciryl Gane on Saturday ended in a no-contest after an unintentional eye-poke late in the first round by the Frenchman rendered the Englishman unable to continue.

Aspinall was upgraded from interim to undisputed champion in June when previous incumbent Jon Jones retired and, having not fought for more than a year, the 32-year-old Briton was eager to get back in the cage to show what he can do.

Gane, whose previous title fights against Jones and Francis Ngannou ended in defeat, started well, bloodying Aspinall’s nose early as the two traded blows in the centre of the cage, with the Englishman recovering to display his whole arsenal of striking tricks.

The fight came to an abrupt end at the 4:

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