My take on why Tom Aspinall has lost a lot of credibility since the Gane fight

[MMACro]

Was and still am team Aspinall but he definitely didnt do himself favors with his communication about the eye poke,or better said how much he forced it upon fans given that he is supposed to be the baddest man on the planet.He could (and should) have played it different.I mean that shit with checking Gane's nails in lab or what it was was funny shit in a negative way
I think he wins the rematch,comes better prepared for Gane's style

 

[dipstickjimmy]

First of all, I understand that injuries are a real part of the sport. I'm not here to discuss the validity of Aspinall's eye injuries.

I'm here to give my take on why Aspinall has lost some credibility, and also why fans are turning on him.

Fans wanted Aspinall VS Jones. People actually picked Aspinall against Jones in polls. Aspinall had a LOT of backers.
Being the UFC HW Champion means you're the baddest man on the roster regardless of weight-classes.

Obviously negotiations fell through and we didn't end up getting Aspinall VS Jones. Feels like we waited a while for it too. Had our hopes up and down.

Then, we had to settle for Aspinall VS Gane. Gane seems to be the master of showing up in HW Championship fights regardless of his poor performances.

We watched Jones make easy work of Gane... we watched Ngannou beat Gane with busted knees... and most people felt that Volkov beat Gane too.

So here Gane is, fighting the guy who we slated as the MAN to beat Jon Jones... and Gane was bloodying Aspinall up.

Now, we all know that a few minutes of 1 round doesn't determine a fight. Arlovski was getting the better of Fedor for a few minutes before going to sleep.
Hell, winning 2-3 minutes of a round doesn't even guarantee you the round, let alone the fight. You gotta win 5 minutes to win 1 round.

We got 4 minutes 30 seconds in... Gane was definitely winning but it wasn't the end of the round yet, and Aspinall ends up getting double eye-poked.
Even if Aspinall was to continue, with how bad the poke was - Gane was going to be deducted a point... which means the first round would have ended up in a draw.

But of course, Gane was getting the better of Aspinall.
The circumstances made it seem like Aspinall was looking for an out in the fight. Now, no one but Tom will know how bad it was after getting poked... and while I'm not a doctor, I have seen many fighters continue after getting poked in the eye in the same manner. Hell, I believe DC and Stipe did it to each other every fight, hah.

It didn't help that fans had been anticipating Aspinall's fight for a while. But now we had to watch him get bloodied up by a gatekeeper, and now he's not continuing in a fight due to eye poke.

So of course fans are a bit upset. Hell, If I paid thousands of dollars to to attend this fight, and I know people flew in to Abu Dhabi to watch this- man, you have every right to be pissed that the HW Championship fight ended in this manner.

But of course, we can't fault Aspinall... we can hate him for choosing not to continue with double vision against a kickboxer who was bloodying him up even when he had 2 working eyes... but ultimately it is al on Gane for the illegal blow. It didn't look very accidental either. Dude had fingers going into Tom's face. And it seemed like Gane was doing it more than once.


However, I think fans didn't expect the fight to get that far. I think we expected to see Tom bulldoze Gane the way Jones did. And when that didn't happen, we lost a bit of faith.
I mean, we picked THIS guy to beat Jones???

And since the fight, Tom and his dad hasn't really been doing themselves any favors with how they have approached the whole thing.
Again, I'm no doctor - but it doesn't seem like there's any evident damage to the eyes as far as a layman like me can understand. I know they gave some special name to what Aspinall is suffering from... and it may make sense to doctors, but it doesn't make sense to laymen like us.

Like, the Aspinalls posted the doctor's report and there doesn't seem to be something that requires immediate surgery.
But Tom and his Dad make it a point to talk about how Tom can't see yet.

Every news we get, is Tom Aspinall still can't see- and there's no timetable for his return. Now ESPN retorted that Aspniall needs surgery after all?
Apparently Tom said he already got 1 surgery, but there's no pics or anything? I'm not sure what the case is. Maybe Tom is set to get surgery.

I wish Tom the best in recovery, but the whole thing has been a mess.

No one should risk being blind. But man, it doesn't help that guys like Bisping fought with 1 eye. Bro lied to pass the medicals and even beat Rockhold on 2 week's notice when Rockhold was top3 P4P on the planet.

GSP was on a 33 round winning streak when Shields poked him and blinded him in 1 eye. GSP kept composed and won the fight 48-47... at the end he talked about how he still can't see from 1 eye. You can see GSP was scared but he kept composed enough to win the fight.

So, we have seen other Champions go through adversity and fight with 1 eye in championship fights.

Shara Bullet fights all his fights with 1 eye. He can't even get cleared in the US.

So, as far Just Bleed goes... I don't think the fans expected anything from Aspinall that we haven't seen from anyone else.

On Top of that, man... why's the BadAss HW Champion of the world so fragile- that's a thought that runs in my head too. Like man it's January now and Tom and his dad are still on about this eye injury. It's been over 2 months, let's move on. I know eye injuries are much more complicated than muscle injuries... but I don't think this does Aspinall any favors as far 'image' goes.

The HW Champion should come off as Unbeatable, as someone who would beat any man in a street fight.
Think Prime Tyson.
Think Prime Fedor.

Dudes were invincible.

Tom Aspinall seemed to have had that AURA taken away from him. And I think that's why fans have turned on Tom Aspinall.


Tl, Dr - I think fans expected Tom to muscle through the eye injury since we slated him as the MAN to beat Jon Jones. Or at the least, we expect him to get over the eye injury by now and get back to the cage to prove himself.

Holy Fuck that gives TLDR a whole new meaning.
More then a few retarded statements.
Gane was bloodying him up even with 2 good eyes.
Tom got bopped on the nose and it bled a little. Stop acting like it was Robbie breaking Rory's nose.

Gane is a gatekeeper? WTF. Guy has only lost to Jones and Francis. Should have lost to Volkov IMO but those are elite HWs. Gatekeeper is a retarded take.

Laymen don't understand Tom's explaination of his injuries so they don't believe. How retarded is that statement? Want to understand, Tom needs surgery on his eyes. The Doctor reports don't say his eyes are injured enough? He is getting eye surgeory FFS! Its not immediate enough? Like he needs to get emergency surgery or his eyes aren't gouged enough for it to count?

If you are going to be dumb be quick about it.

 

[VinceArch]

I'd get used to it if I were you he's going to win the UFC HW title in his next fight

Yeah, but you also kept saying Islam would lose to JDM, I mean Oliviera, I mean Ilia. I think I'll wait to see who it is that puts Cyril's lights out.

 

[Deathmask]

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Laymen don't understand Tom's explaination of his injuries so they don't believe. How retarded is that statement? Want to understand, Tom needs surgery on his eyes. The Doctor reports don't say his eyes are injured enough? He is getting eye surgeory FFS! Its not immediate enough? Like he needs to get emergency surgery or his eyes aren't gouged enough for it to count?

I know that often I'll go to my doctor and go "I need eye surgery" and then when he goes, "but I don't see anything wrong," I just go "Pweeeeease" and then he schedules me for surgery.

 

[Lepo Lepo]

I would’ve liked him more if he just said “I got poked in the eye and could not see, therefore didn’t continue the fight. It sucks but Let’s book the rematch when healthy”. Instead of doing a doctor series on YouTube for clicks, crying that social media is mean (after using social media for the past year encouraging people to go after Jones), having your dad cry about it and carrying it on for months.

Just get healthy and get the fight scheduled.

 

[Thy]

He was put in a bad situation, dealt a bad hand, then dealt a bad finger. Sucks but sometimes things just don't roll ur way and people like me who don't give a shit about people i don't know irl, stop caring if u stop entertaining. Maybe he'll "see" a path to redemption if he keeps his "eye" on the ball, and wins without being "short sighted"

Actually nvrm i'm having fun now. He's ok in my book.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Yeah, but you also kept saying Islam would lose to JDM, I mean Oliviera, I mean Ilia. I think I'll wait to see who it is that puts Cyril's lights out.

that's not even true. I bet 300 dollars on islam to beat charles LOL Charles has been dropped by everyone and subbed 6 times. easy to see coming.

and yeah Illa would beat islam hence why he moved classes.

I was wrong about JDM.

 

[VinceArch]

that's not even true. I bet 300 dollars on islam to beat charles LOL

and yeah Illa would beat islam hence why he moved classes.

Point is, I'll be rooting for Cyril Gane to lose and you aren't the user who is going to convince me otherwise.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Point is, I'll be rooting for Cyril Gane to lose and you aren't the user who is going to convince me otherwise.

I'm not trying to convince you. It's funnier to watch the denile for me

 

[VinceArch]

I'm not trying to convince you. It's funnier to watch the denial for me

FTFY.

 

[RockyLockridge]

FTFY.

thank you

 

[VinceArch]

thank you

 

[LeBron]

How ironic to be chasing a pussy (Jon) only to get labeled a pussy immediately after his next fight.

 

[Superzorro]

Sooner we can get the rematch behind us, the better.

I respect this more than the people advocating for him to be allowed to avoid the rematch.

TS's wall of text was unnecessary. Most of the people who "turned" on Aspinall were simply biding their time all along, waiting for any crack in the armor. There will always be haters waiting for an opportunity to hate.

And others had unreasonable expectations and were disappointed that he didn't blast through Gane. I've been driving the Aspinall wagon since before it was cool, but I've been saying for a while that Gane was a bad stylistic matchup for him. It really shouldn't have been a shock that the fight was competitive, given the facts that: (1) Gane is more technical on the feet; and (2) Aspinall isn't a wrestler.

He’s not a good wrestler? That’s not what people were saying when they were spamming that gif of him taking down Volkov. People were saying he reminded them of GSP.

I am pretty cerebral, if that isn't obvious. I also stay very cerebral when I fight. In kind, I try to fight for the representation of fighters who fight cerebral. There are a lot of different types who get into MMA, (whatever arbitrary classification you want to give them; warrior, fighter, martial artist, athlete, sportsman, businessman, whatever. Point is), there's not one single type, and not every single fighter is the "lose brain-thought, just fight" barbarian sort. Those types do benefit quite a bit from the adrenaline, and only really start to gain the ability to focus on issues after the dump. Some of the best fighters in the history of MMA have been thinkers, who are always focused.

I think it may be a valid accusation to call Tom out as not one of those types of warriors who thrive on adrenaline and lives more in his head, and therefore a problem like an eyepoke is a more-present issue that is immediately distracting and hard to get mentally over. Now, if that was the length of the accusation from people, I'd agree that's entirely possible. I always understand that fans don't often like cerebral types so I wouldn't get too upset about their sandy vaginas disliking Tom for it.

But the problem is that's not where seemingly anyone cuts that thought pattern off. Some denigrate that type as a lesser overall competitor, or even less of a man, or claim that because a fighter isn't that specific type of just-fight warrior, that they are in some way fake, and that's just utter blind bullshit. They're inventing questions about Tom's credibility and ability, and he's then responding to it, which is only makes the other "I don't want to hear anything critics" louder while giving more ground to the "Well then I demande to know all the info" critics. Two groups who any kind of gains you might make for responding to are mutually exclusive and inversely traded off with the growing criticism of the other.

He doesn’t think when he fights. He blindly charges forward and exchanges with his chin up in the air. Gane was outthinking him at every turn. And a fighter having the willpower and determination to not quit doesn’t make them a barbarian. The toughest fighters are the most cerebral. The fighters who try to blast you out in the first round are the ones who lack mental toughness because they know they can’t last down the stretch. Being able to outthink someone and beat them for every minute of twelve or five rounds > only being better than your opponent less than one round. That’s how it’s always been.

 

[laleggenda27]

He’s not a good wrestler? That’s not what people were saying when they were spamming that gif of him taking down Volkov. People were saying he reminded them of GSP.

I'm not sure what "people" were saying, but no, he's not a wrestler. He's a big, very athletic guy who trains mma, so he can obviously land takedowns. But he's not a wrestler.

Gane's a much more technical striker than Aspinall, and I figured his footwork would make it difficult for Aspinall to find early takedowns. But I suspect that, as Gane slowed down a bit, Aspinall would have either landed the takedown (and sub) or the killshot. Remember, it wasn't until round 3 in both the Francis and Volkov fights that they started to take Gane down.

 

[GNRXI]

I would’ve liked him more if he just said “I got poked in the eye and could not see, therefore didn’t continue the fight. It sucks but Let’s book the rematch when healthy”. Instead of doing a doctor series on YouTube for clicks, crying that social media is mean (after using social media for the past year encouraging people to go after Jones), having your dad cry about it and carrying it on for months.

Just get healthy and get the fight scheduled.

This is primarily my issue with Tom. He got poked in the eye and everyone saw how nasty it was. I think he should have taken the full 5 mins and not pleaded to the ref so quickly but if his eye was truly compromised then fair enough.

But to go on a media tour documenting his trips to Abu Dhabi hospital and publishing his medical reports to 'convince' everyone that he was compromised is just cringeworthy. You got poked so just lay low and recover, instead he wants to put it beyond any reasonable doubt that he was justified in throwing in the towel and calling Gane a cheat for an unintentional foul. What about his good mate Ante Delijah?? Was he also a cheat then?

 

[GNRXI]

Tom was getting beat sure, he wasn’t getting destroyed or anything. The only people shitting on Tom still are Jon’s fans who got completely cucked by Tom. “Tommy” is a giveaway you know who you’re listening to when you read that

He wasn't getting destroyed, but he was being bloodied up by a guy who the entire community started to consider a bum since he was effortlessly dispatched by Jones. Many people were not even looking forward to this fight since it was a presupposition that Tom would have an easy first defence to his name.


In actuality, none of that happened and Tom was not only bloodied up but losing a round at that point and icing on the cake had to be calling it quits—for right or wrong reasons.

I'm not a JBJ fan but the way everyone downgraded his win vs Gane while Tom (who Jon ducked) was being pieced up on the feet is pretty funny I can't lie.

 

[GNRXI]

The gig was up when Tom tried to claim his buddy and training partner Ante Delija's eye-poke was fine

Did he actually say that?

 

[Marko Polo]

He wasn't getting destroyed, but he was being bloodied up by a guy who the entire community started to consider a bum since he was effortlessly dispatched by Jones. Many people were not even looking forward to this fight since it was a presupposition that Tom would have an easy first defence to his name.


In actuality, none of that happened and Tom was not only bloodied up but losing a round at that point and icing on the cake had to be calling it quits—for right or wrong reasons.

I'm not a JBJ fan but the way everyone downgraded his win vs Gane while Tom (who Jon ducked) was being pieced up on the feet is pretty funny I can't lie.

He got fouled and needs surgery as a result of that foul. He had a bloody nose, that was it. He was getting stung with jabs but he was beginning to work his way in, people saying he quit are projecting their own cowardice.