Joe Rogan Backs Tom Aspinall Over UFC 321 No-Contest: 'He Got a Bad Deal'

Joe Rogan has heard the takes on Tom Aspinall's UFC 321 disaster, and he thinks most of them are trash. Aspinall's first outing as undisputed heavyweight champion this past October ended in a no-contest late in the opening round after challenger Ciryl Gane poked him in both eyes. Aspinall couldn't continue, and has since undergone two separate surgeries to fix the damage. On a recent episode of his podcast, Rogan said the champion got a bad deal and got royally screwed over.

The context matters. Gane, now ranked #1 at heavyweight with a 14-2 record and coming off a second-round knockout of Alex Pereira, was reportedly having success early before the foul. That fed a nasty theory doing the rounds: that Aspinall bailed because he was losing the first round. Rogan isn't buying it. He asked what people expected a guy defending the heavyweight title to do when he's knuckle-deep in an eye poke and can't see.

The Embellishment Accusation

Rico Verhoeven, Aspinall's friend and training partner, backed him up on the same show. He acknowledged fans had a point that Gane looked good early, but stressed it was only the first round and possibly just ring rust for Aspinall. Verhoeven insisted Aspinall would never fake an injury to escape a fight he was behind in, no matter the scenario.

Rogan reserved his sharpest words for a specific slice of the fanbase, the casual crowd he called far worse. His argument is simple: this wasn't a punch, a kick, or an elbow. It was a foul. When a fighter gets his eye gouged and can't see, the fight gets stopped, and the blame lands on the man who committed the foul.

Why the Doubt Lingers

Part of the problem is Aspinall's activity, or lack of it. Between a fruitless years-long chase for a fight with then-champ Jon Jones and now these eye injuries, he's fought just twice since 2023. That kind of layoff breeds skepticism, and a chunk of fans still aren't convinced his absences have been legitimate.

It's gotten more complicated off the mat, too. Aspinall recently signed a management deal with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing, and Hearn is currently in a public spat with UFC CEO Dana White. So the champion is rehabbing, posting update after update, and now caught in the crossfire of a promoter feud. Whether Rogan's defense shifts the narrative is another matter. This is a fickle sport, and Aspinall's real answer will come whenever he's cleared to fight again.