Joe Rogan still can't understand why Tom Aspinall was vilified following his disappointing UFC 321 title defense.

The British heavyweight's first fight as undisputed champion this past October ended in utter disaster for him and challenger Ciryl Gane, as the bout was ruled a no-contest near the end of the first round due to Aspinall being unable to continue after Gane poked him in the eyes. Aspinall has been on the mend since, undergoing surgery to address eye injuries from the foul and waiting to be fully cleared to compete again.

In the aftermath of that debacle, Aspinall heard it from all sides with some defending his decision and others criticizing him for not pushing through the injury (worse, some have accused Aspinall of embellishing his circumstances due to him possibly losing the first round to Gane). UFC commentator Joe Rogan has always had sympathy for Aspinall's situation, and he doubled down on that take on a recent episode of his podcast.

“He got a bad deal,†Rogan said. “He got really f*cked over for that fight. The way people got upset at him for stopping the fight with those eye pokes, to me that drove me crazy. What do you expect the guy to do? He's defending the heavyweight title. He's defending the heavyweight title. He gets poked in the eyes and he can't f*cking see and he's had two eye surgeries since then.â€

Rogan's guest Rico Verhoeven, a friend and training partner of Aspinall's, also came to the heavyweight king's defense.

“He's the nicest guy and he works incredibly hard,†Verhoeven said. “He would never, never even though—Because I understand where it comes from from the people to a certain extent because they feel like, ‘Hey, Gane was doing so good in the beginning of the fight.' But it was just the beginning of the fight. It was just the first round or whatever, so it's possible because of some ring rust he had to get into it, and the fight ain't over until it's over.

“You can have an opinion about the first round, he gets an eye poke, now he's going to stop because he knew he was behind or whatever. He would never, never in whatever world do that.â€

“If you looked at the eye poke, he was knuckle-deep in his eye hole,†Rogan added.

Aspinall has continued to face scrutiny for his absence and he has responded with frequent updates on the procedures he's had to go through for his injuries as well as other personal and professional updates. He's also found himself in an odd position with UFC CEO Dana White, who is currently in an ongoing public feud with Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn, the man who just so happened to recently sign Aspinall to a management contract.

For various reasons – including a fruitless pursuit of now-former heavyweight champion Jon Jones – Aspinall has fought just twice 2023 and there remains a contingent of fans unconvinced that he's been out of action for legitimate reasons.

Rogan doesn't mince words when it comes to that specific section of critics.

“I just hate that fans reacted the way they reacted – and it's the casual ones, it's the shitheads,†Rogan said. “For me, I was like, ‘God, you've got give the guy some grace. He got his eye poked out.' He literally was knuckle-deep in his eyes.

“For anyone to think that he should be fighting with one eye like that, ‘Who cares? Keep fighting,' that's insane. He got fouled. It's not because of a punch, it's not because he got kicked or an elbow, it's a foul. So no, the fight should have been stopped the way it was and everybody should understand that. It's not his fault. It was his opponent's fault.â€

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Or, like, he just is a different kinda dude.

It's also just a good skill to have, and not hard to learn.

It would be good to have him back.

Yair Rodriguez (20-5) vs. Jean Silva (17-3); Noche UFC, Sep. 12.

Now that Rogan has come out and said it, and people hate Gane, Tom gonna be back in everyone's good graces. This is a fickle sport. – Meshew

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