Ciryl Gane says Tom Aspinall ‘overreacted’ and ‘put on a show’ as he responds to cheating claims

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ciryl Gane has opened up about the aftermath of his heavyweight title clash with Tom Aspinall.

Aspinall has yet to be cleared for sparring, still recovering from the injuries sustained due to eye pokes during their fight in October.

The Brit was understandably frustrated, not just by how his first title defense ended, but also by the way some people reacted to a situation beyond his control.

Ahead of his upcoming appearance at White House in June, Gane addressed those accusations and shared his perspective on the incident.

Ciryl Gane takes issue with how Tom Aspinall handled their title fight finish

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

After his last fight, Ciryl Gane was frustrated that Tom Aspinall couldn’t carry on, and he didn’t hold back when sharing his feelings about it.

Since then, a lot has been said about what happened that night in Abu Dhabi. But ‘Bon Gamin’ hadn’t spoken much about it in the months after the fight.

He finally broke his silence in a recent interview with RMC Sport Combat, where he criticised the way Aspinall reacted to everything that followed.

“[Aspinall’s] communication strategy was terrible,” he said. “Today, he’s signed with an agency that I hope helps him with his communication because it was a disaster. Sometimes it’s better not to say anything. These things happen. You don’t need to overdo it, exaggerate it.

“The guy was like, ‘Ahh, ahh,’ acting like he can’t drive anymore. He said so many things and spent so much time trying to accuse me of who knows what,” Gane continued. “It just didn’t make sense anymore at a certain point.”

While some fans defended Aspinall’s claim that Gane fouled him intentionally, not everyone agreed with how the champion spoke about it afterward.

Aspinall explained how severe his injuries were and how long recovery would take, making many wonder why there were still doubts about him.

On the other hand, some felt that staying quiet until fully recovered would have been the better approach for Aspinall.

Gane touched on this as well: “Even his own fans must have been like, ‘Wow man, that’s enough. Relax. These things happen, we’ve got your back but you should calm down a bit.’ But yeah; that was his communication… I wasn’t affected at all.”

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