Francis Ngannou is the latest top heavyweight to come out in defence of Tom Aspinall after the controversy of UFC 321’s main ecent.

The fight between Aspinall and Ciryl Gane was heading towards being one of the most intriguing heavyweight title clashes in recent memory. However, with seconds to go in the first round the Frenchman poked his rival in the eye.

Despite a doctor claiming that he could continue, Aspinall was unable to see properly and the bout ended in a no contest. The news since has not been good, with dad Andy Aspinall claiming in the following days he was still struggling.

Francis Ngannou puts his backing behind Tom Aspinall in UFC 321 controversy

The former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who never lost his belt in the octagon, spoke to TMZ recently and was asked about the controversy. He spoke up for Tom Aspinall where many have critcized his decision not to fight on.

“I think that eye poke made a lot of news, more than the fight itself,” Ngannou joked. “More than the announcement of the fight for sure. It was a very controversial feeling and I understand that there was a lot of frustration on the fan side that were so excited to see the outcome.

“But that was definitely an eye poke and it compromised vision from Tom. So I think the normal decision in that position is not to fight because an eye poke is not like you get kicked in the balls and you can recover and come back.

“It’s not like a pain, you are compromising your vision. And if you are doing a combat sport with compromised vision it is not good at all. Then if you still can’t see anything what if your vision is [permanently] compromised?

“Then if you keep going and maybe because of that you lose the fight, the same people will be saying how stupid you were. You should have stopped, blah, blah, blah. I see their frustration but there was an eye poke that did cause damage and affected vision.”