Sean O’Malley supports Tom Aspinall after UFC 321.
After Saturday’s main event debacle, in which heavyweight champion Aspinall was unable to continue after being stabbed in the eye by Cyril Gane, fighters and fans were quick to weigh in on the disappointing ending to the title fight. Pundits Chael Sonnen and Anthony Smith harshly criticized Aspinall for not following through with the foul, but veteran Jim Miller believes the bigger part of the criticism should be directed at the player who committed the foul.
O’Malley has expressed his full support for Aspinall on his YouTube channel and believes the attacks on his credibility are unreasonable.
“A lot of people in the mixed martial arts world said it was a shame that Tom couldn’t continue fighting,” O’Malley said. “You’re the UFC World Heavyweight Champion. You just got punched in the eye pretty bad. You’re fighting a very dangerous kickboxer. It’s hard to stand in front of someone so skilled and fight with both eyes. Now you’re going to be illegally punched in the eye. It wasn’t your right hand that hit you and smashed your eye socket. Your eye swelled up and you couldn’t see. That’s not it. You get punched.” Eye, legal. When you get shot, your eyes swell up and you can’t see, but you get over it. Tom Aspinall will get through it. He didn’t get hit and his eyes swelled up and he said, “I’m done.” I can’t see it. ”
“Not that he was poked in the eye. That was an illegal strike. That was an accident. I believe 100 percent that it was an accident. I don’t think Cyril did it on purpose. Cyril had an advantage over Tom. But it’s insane to question Tom’s toughness. No one wanted that more than Tom Aspinall. He wanted to fight more than we wanted to see him fight. That’s why it’s hard to question Tom’s actions. ”
The main event of UFC 321 was called off with less than 30 seconds remaining in the opening round, leaving many wondering whether Gane, who appeared to have won the first round, went on to win the fight (the fight was not over, so no official score was given), or whether Aspinall turned the fight around with 20 minutes remaining.
O’Malley believes Aspinall would have continued fighting had it not been for the misconduct.
“I’ve been poked in the eye before,” O’Malley said. “Not in a fight, but in practice, I got poked in the eye. Boom, whoops, I’m done. I’m not going to continue practicing. Of course I can’t see. It’s uncomfortable, it hurts, it’s scary. I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to normal. I don’t know if I’ll ever see again. That’s a real possibility. I got poked in the eye and I’ll never be able to see again.” Again, not to mention you’re now trying to fight this guy. Massive elite athletes who will beat you down with insane jabs. I lost my eye because of an illegal strike. Unfortunately, I can’t doubt Tom’s toughness about it.
“He gets punched in the eye, his eye gets swollen. He’s not going to stop fighting, he’s not going to stop fighting. He could probably break Tom’s arm, but he’s going to keep fucking fighting. So I don’t think it’s fair to question his toughness in that moment. Again, there was no one who wanted to fight more and wanted to be there more than Tom.”
After the fight, UFC CEO Dana White expressed interest in rebooking the fight, but nothing has been finalized. The timing of Aspinall’s return is also unclear.
Replays showed Gane’s fingers making solid contact with Aspinall’s eyes, which is one reason O’Malley takes Aspinall at his word regarding the severity of the foul. But the way O’Malley sees it, it’s worth booking a rematch as soon as possible.
“When I first saw it, it didn’t look that bad,” O’Malley said. “Then they got really close up. In both eyes, he was fingered. Two in the eyes. One of the fingers was, like, deep.”
“Cyril Gane looked really good in the first round,” O’Malley continued. “Tom Aspinall’s nose was bleeding and Cyril was landing that jab. I’m not a heavyweight. When you go there, in the heavyweight division, you don’t get a lot of engagement because it only takes one punch, especially from two big punchers. You see that a lot, but Tom was coming forward and Cyril was circling and hitting a beautiful jab. He won that round. Both heavyweights can move very well with their feet. God, that was happening.” It was going to be a very fun fight, and I thought Tom was going to go out there and put Cyril through. It’s going to be a very interesting battle. I think it makes sense to bring it back. ”