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Aspinall v Gane ends in No Contest at UFC 321

football25 October 2025 21:20| © Backpage TXT
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The Heavyweight Championship main event of UFC 321 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday evening between undisputed champion Tom Aspinall and challenger Ciryl Gane ended in a disappointing No Contest.

The match was stopped at 4:35 of the first round after Gane accidentally poked Aspinall in the eye.

After nearly five minutes of pause to allow Aspinall to try and recover – with no success – the fight was declared a No Contest.

The match had major promise, with Gane looking impressive in the opening minutes and bloodying Aspinall’s nose, before the unintentional foul brought a premature end to proceedings.

“Guys, I just got poked knuckle deep in the eye. Why the f*** are you booing? What am I supposed to do about it? I can’t see,” said Aspinall in his post-fight interview, addressing boos from the frustrated crowd. “This is bull****.”

In the co-main event, Mackenzie Dern defeated Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision, using superior striking and doing more damage to take the fight – and the vacant Women’s Strawweight Championship – 48-47 48-47 49-46 on the judges’ score cards.

“It feels amazing, I can’t believe this,” said Dern in her post-fight interview. “It wasn’t the fight I expected, I thought it was going to be easier to be honest [...]. I knew she would get the takedowns, but I’m glad they [judges] see the difference between when they are just stalling and doing damage.”

In the rest of the main card, Azamat Murzakanov claimed a first-round stoppage win over Aleksandar Rakic in the light heavyweight division; Alexander Volkov edged Jailton Almeida via split decision to potentially earn a shot at the heavyweight title; and Umar Nurmagomedov claimed a unanimous decision win over Mario Bautista in the bantamweight category.

The UFC continues with a Fight Night on Sunday 2 November, headlined by Steve Garcia taking on Ugandan rising star David Onama in the featherweight division.

UFC 321 – Main card results

- Main event: Heavyweight Championship: Tom Aspinall v Ciryl Gane – No Contest; accidental eye poke rendered Aspinall unable to continue

- Co-main event: Women’s Strawweight Championship: Mackenzie Dern def. Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision (48-47 48-47 49-46), R5, 5:00

- Bantamweight: Umar Nurmagomedov def. Mario Bautista via unanimous decision (30-27 30-27 30-27), R3, 5:00

- Heavyweight: Alexander Volkov def. Jailton Almeida via split decision (28-29 29-28 29-28), R3, 5:00

- Light heavyweight: Azamat Murzakanov def. Aleksandar Rakic via TKO (punch), R1, 3:11

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