Ciryl Gane’s interim heavyweight title win over Alex Pereira at UFC Freedom 250 is already sparking debate.
UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has now weighed in with strong concerns about how the finish unfolded.
Ciryl Gane stopped Alex Pereira in the second round at the White House co-main event, earning a TKO after landing a clean jab and finishing off the Brazilian with ground strikes.
During the finishing sequence, it appears that Gane landed up to ten blows to the back or side (depending who you ask) of Pereira’s head.
Aspinall flags questionable shots
Aspinall reviewed the finish on his YouTube channel and questioned whether several strikes were legal during Gane’s flurry.
“They look a bit illegal. They look very illegal!”
“It looked like there was a lot of illegal elbows going on and illegal punches, but generally he looked good.”
He also noted Pereira did not look settled early in the fight.
“He just looked like a bit stiff and reserved from the beginning.”
He looked slow, but he’s not a particularly fast light heavyweight.”
Rivalry history adds more tension
Tom Aspinall has his own recent history with Gane. Their first title meeting at UFC 321 ended in a no contest after an accidental eye poke forced Aspinall out of the fight. Aspinall later required double eye surgery.
Despite that setback, he sounded open to running it back, even on foreign soil.
“Paris in September? I’ll do that,”
“Yeah, I’ll do that. Let me know. I don’t mind. I’ll go to Paris. Let me know.”
Let’s hope Eddy Hearn (Tom Aspinall’s manager and boxing promoter) will have settled his pay feud with Dana White so this can become a reality.