Ciryl Gane is still hoping for a rematch with Britain’s Tom Aspinall.
Aspinall’s UFC heavyweight title fight with Gane ended in a no contest after the Briton suffered an eye poke.
Unable to compete due to the injury, Aspinall vacated the title. Gane, who won an interim title when he beat Alex Perreira, was elevated to full champion and defends the belt against Josh Hokit at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Victory could lead to an eventual rematch with Aspinall. “I hope to. Unfortunately the outcome of this [first] fight was not a good way for me, for him, for everyone. So I hope he’s got a bit better from his injury. But it’s important for him to recover first,” Gane told Sky Sports.
“It was a great first round for me, I think. But it was just the first round so we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen for the rest of the fight. So it was a really interesting fight, it’s really hard to predict… But I started very well.”
Aspinall has criticised Gane, calling him a “cheater”. The Frenchman responded: “I was a little bit disappointed but he tries to protect himself maybe with this strategy. But unfortunately this happens in MMA so I don’t understand.
“This is an accident,” he added. “I’m not a guy that disrespects fighters, I like to respect everyone.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
