White gave a promising update on Aspinall's health and his next fight after UFC 321's disappointing result


Getty Images

Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane will likely run it back after a disastrous end to UFC 321. UFC CEO Dana White plans to rebook the match as soon as possible and provided a promising health update for Aspinall.

The mixed martial arts world was vexed on Oct. 25 after a premature conclusion to UFC 321's main event. Gane looked sharp early against the UFC heavyweight champion, but an accidental double eyepoke left Aspinall unable to continue before Round 1 concluded. The fight was officially ruled a no-contest.

"I was devastated," White told "The Jim Rome Show." "When your main event is heating up and looks like it'll be a really good fight, and it ends with an eye poke, that's brutal. He's at home recovering. As soon as he's able to fight again, we'll book the rematch."

If there's a silver lining, it's that Gane is a more believable challenger the second time. His early success against Aspinall turned heads, and with no other standout contenders in the heavyweight division, there's arguably more intrigue than ever for their fight.

White wouldn't commit to a timeline for the fight, but he gave a promising update on Aspinall's condition. According to White, Aspinall did not suffer a detached retina or any serious long-term eye damage.

"As far as we know, he doesn't have a detached retina, there's no damage to the eye," White said. "He should he'll up soon and we'll figure out when we can make the fight again."

Whatever the outcome of their rematch, the same problem persists at heavyweight. There are very few compelling challengers. It's particularly true if Aspinall wins, having beaten four of the current top five. The exception to that is Jailton Almeida (No. 5), who is coming off a lifeless loss to Alexander Volkov, where Almeida seemed lost.

Volkov has the best case on paper. He's 5-1 in his last six, with the only blemish being a controversial split decision loss to Gane. Then there's Waldo Cortes-Acosta (No. 6), who ironically knocked out Aspinall's training partner Ante Delija last week after Delija poked him in the eye.

The most high-profile option is former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, but it's unlikely anyone will make the effort to secure it.

When Jones was the heavyweight champion, he repeatedly denounced interim champion Aspinall, denying Aspinall his unification fight. Ultimately, Jones retired in June, vacating the title, only to unretire shortly after Aspinall graduated to undisputed champion. On Thursday, Jones confessed to renegging on a verbal agreement to fight Aspinall.

"I'm giving Dana his space. We had a verbal agreement that didn't go over well," Jones told the "No Scripts.". "Nothing was finalized. The way things went down, I was wrong. I wish that I could see him face-to-face and apologize to him."

Jones retired with the desire to fight light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira on the White House card. Both fighters are publicly campaigning for a non-title heavyweight fight, so it's unlikely Jones would agree to fight Aspinall.

White has publicly stated there's a "billion to one" chance Jones competes at the White House after imploding the Aspinall negotiations.

Aspinall wants nothing to do with Jones after having two years of his prime mostly stalled by Jones' unwillingness to fight him.

Source