"People turn on you really quick" - Tom Aspinall gets honest about aftermath of eye-poke incident at UFC 321 

Tom Aspinall recently opened up about experiencing the after-effects of his ill-fated fight against Ciryl Gane in October.

Aspinall went up against Gane in a heavyweight title fight at UFC 321. While many expected the two striking juggernauts to put on a fireworks display for the fans, the fight ended in the opening round after Gane's illegal eye pokes rendered Aspinall unable to continue fighting. The referee ultimately ruled the bout a no-contest.

In the aftermath, some MMA fans accused Aspinall of quitting the fight, while others criticized Gane for his rule violation. However, it appears Aspinall also had to deal with his close associates turning their backs on him.

In a recent interview with One on One MMA, Aspinall opened up about the social and personal after-effects of the eye-poke incident and said:

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"People turn on you really quick, you know? You always hear of it, don't you? People maybe start getting jealous and want to drag you down when you get to the top. I had never really experienced that, but people will turn their backs on you quickly and give their opinions publicly, even if they're your friends. Maybe the fact is that they're not your friend... They'll come out and say certain stuff when you have a relationship with them."

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Tom Aspinall doubles down on Ciryl Gane criticism after UFC 321 eye-poke incident

In the same interview, Tom Aspinall opened up about being upset at Ciryl Gane for his eye-poke violation and shared his take on the referee's actions.

The Englishman took a shot at Gane's 'accidental' poke and questioned the referees allowing a fighter to commit multiple fouls during a bout. He said:

“Yeah, I’m pretty angry, mate. I’m pretty angry about it. Mainly [at] Ciryl]. Yeah, I think mainly Ciryl, yeah. I’ve never accidentally done something in a fight. I don’t see how you can really, so I’ll leave it at that."

He added:

“I’m still under the notion that if someone’s fouling, if they do it once, you can deem it as an accident. If they do it twice, pause. The other person’s allowed a foul as well... We’re fighting, you kick me in the nuts once. The ref gives you five minutes to recover... We restart, you do it again, the ref says, 'You stand there, open your legs, he gets a free one.'”

Edited by Nishant Zende.