Ciryl Gane was in defensive mode when he accidentally poked Tom Aspinall in the eyes at UFC 321.

Gane's fight against UFC heavyweight champion Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) this past October was ruled a no contest after an eye poke rendered the Brit unable to continue. Aspinall required double eye surgery and has not been able to resume sparring just yet.

Gane Explains What Happened

Gane (13-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was asked if he worked on keeping his fingers closed during training.

"No, unfortunately, this has happened in every event," Gane told New York Post Sports. "This is not something special. Unfortunately, I landed my middle kick. When you land the middle kick, you land also the hands. He came in front of me, and the first thing coming toward me was his face. So I tried to push his face, and my fingers just swiped him in his eyes. This is MMA."

Walking Back His Initial Comments

Gane, who takes on Alex Pereira for the interim heavyweight title in the UFC Freedom 250 co-main event on June 14 from the White House in Washington, D.C., initially put Aspinall on blast for exaggerating the eye pokes. However, he appears to have walked back some of those comments.

"At the moment, I was a little bit frustrated because I thought it was possible to continue the fight," Gane said. "Also, I was thinking about all the sacrifices I did before for this fight. But this is the sport. It's OK. I said just after the fight, we're not in the eyes of Tom Aspinall, so we can't judge. Maybe he can't see like he said. So no, I'm not judging."

Aspinall Weighs In on Pereira vs. Gane

Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall will have a close eye on the UFC Freedom 250 interim title bout. While still recovering from being double eye poked while facing Gane at UFC 321 last October, Aspinall expects to take on the winner later this year. He praised Pereira as a "generational talent" but questioned whether the Brazilian will carry his punching power to the heavyweight division.

"First of all, he's an absolute generational talent, Alex Pereira. If he wins this fight, even though it's an interim title, it'll be the first person ever to win three different weights, which is unbelievable," Aspinall said on Fight Your Corner.

"He's massive. First of all, I have no idea how he made middleweight because he's like my height. So, he's maybe a little bit shorter than me, 6'4, 6'5. Massive weight cuts and now he's fighting at heavyweight."

Aspinall Questions Pereira's Power at Heavyweight

"He carries a lot of power at light heavy and middle, but he's also fighting a lot smaller guys whose punch resistance is a lot less. So, in my opinion, a big factor in why he's knocking these guys out is because he's a lot bigger than them," Aspinall continued. "And a guy like Ciryl Gane, who's used to taking punches off big, big heavyweights, he didn't get hurt off Francis Ngannou for five rounds, which is one of the biggest punchers in the division. I don't know if his punch resistance will be as good at heavyweight.

"Also, Alex Pereira is very good when he fights light heavyweights and middleweights who don't move a lot. Ciryl Gane is a massive heavyweight who moves a lot, moves really well, really, really fluid on his feet, moves in and out, judges distance really well and stuff like that."

Aspinall's Prediction

Aspinall struggled to pick a winner but believed the matchup favors Gane. However, he pointed to an aspect of Pereira's game that could give the Frenchman trouble.

"Stylistically I think it's a good matchup for Gane. That being said, Gane doesn't like leg kicks. He doesn't fare well against leg kicks. He's a good kicker, but if someone kicks him, his leg kick defense isn't great," Aspinall said. "Alex Pereira, unbelievable leg kicker. His calf kicks slow people down. That's how he sets up the left hook is the kicks to the calf, stops the movement a little bit and then comes in with the left hook."

"I think, honestly, the Gane and Pereira fight, I struggle to pick a winner at this stage to be honest," Aspinall said. "It's a tough one to call, mate. Tough one to call. I would say Gane by points. I think he's just going to move too much for him and beat him on points."