The UFC 321 main event didn’t make it out of the opening round as many predicted; however, the circumstances around the first-round stoppage weren’t what anyone had in mind.

Tom Apsinall had been counting down the days until he could step back into the Octagon after an extended 456-day layoff. However, his heavyweight title defence against Ciryl Gane ended in an unfortunate and unceremonious manner.

A reckless, albeit seemingly unintentional, double eye poke from Gane resulted in Aspinall being unable to see out of his right eye and the fight was stopped. It was deemed a no-contest and Aspinall retained his title, yet the result left a foul (pun intended) taste in the champion’s mouth.

The 32-year-old star from England is known as one of the true gentlemen in all of combat sports, yet h

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