Dana White denies making 'derogatory' comments about Tom Aspinall after British fighter's eye injury suffered in Ciryl Gane clash

Tom Aspinall remains on the road to recovery following the eye poke incident that brought a premature end to his heavyweight title fight with Ciryl Gane last month. And he has admitted that he was unhappy with UFC president Dana White's reaction to the outcome. White, though, has insisted he did not intend to be "negative" or "derogatory" about the British fighter.

Watch moment Gane double eye poke on Aspinall leads to no contest

Video credit: TNT Sports

UFC president Dana White has rejected suggestions he made "derogatory" claims about Tom Aspinall following the British fighter's eye injury sustained against Ciryl Gane last month.

The fight at UFC 321 was deemed a no contest after the incident and Aspinall retained his heavyweight title.

Aspinall has since revealed that he has developed a rare eye condition and continues to struggle with his vision.

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White, in a press conference after Aspinall's truncated fight with Gane, said "only Tom knows what happened" and that he "didn't want to continue".

Aspinall later claimed on his YouTube channel that he was "disappointed" by White's assessment of the fight.

"I know Tom said I haven't even talked to him and all this stuff, but we have people all over him right now checking up on him and making sure he's good," White said when asked about Aspinall after UFC 323 in Las Vegas.

"I'm not a doctor - I'm just saying what I heard. I said Tom's eyes are good, he's going to take some time, heal, that's all I said.

"Never once did I say anything negative about him in a derogatory way. I'm sure he's upset, fired up, and he'll get better and we'll get him back there."

Highlights: Controversy as main event between Aspinall and Gane ended by eye poke

Video credit: TNT Sports

Aspinall is yet to return to training and could need eye surgery.

The 32-year-old has not been "medically cleared for combat" and no date has been set for a potential return.

He posted a medical account on Instagram earlier this month, which read: "Depending on clinical progression, targeted periocular [surrounding the eyeball] steroid injections or surgical intervention to address persistent motility [movement] impairment may be required if symptoms fail to resolve."

Expounding on the eye poke incident on YouTube, Aspinall said: "I actually got eye poked twice in the fight. The first one wasn’t too bad, he got warned for it.

"The second one, Ciryl Gane tried to make my head a bowling ball with the double eye poke knuckle deep in both.

"I think that when it initially happened, I didn’t really think much of it, I thought accidental eye poke, whatever.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

"But when I watched the fightback, that’s when I really got the gist of what was going on. The guy was trying to poke my eyes out all the way through that round.

"Nearly every exchange, when I could put him in danger, he had his fingers out, aiming towards my eyes."

On his potential return to action, Aspinall added: "I’m not going to go out there and fight one of the best strikers in the world when I cannot see with any eye.

"It’s not up to me, it’s up to the doctors; at the minute I’m not allowed to do anything, so I’m just following advice at the moment."

Watch Tom Aspinall: Road to Undisputed on TNT Sports and discovery+

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