MMA
Joe Rogan defends Tom Aspinall against eye injury critics
Giuseppe CACACE / AFPUFC commentator Joe Rogan has defended UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall against critics of his eye injury.
Ever since his fight against Ciryl Gane, Tom Aspinall has been getting a lot of hate online. One of the big reasons for that is that some felt as if he ‘quit' the fight, implying that he was exaggerating his eye injuries that came as a result of repeated eye pokes from Gane.
RELATED: Tom Aspinall ready to go for title unification rematch with Ciryl Gane, waiting on UFC to ‘let us know'
Given that he's now had multiple surgeries on his eyes, you would have to imagine that Aspinall legitimately couldn't see, making the decision to stop fighting a pretty good one.
In a recent episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan defended Aspinall.
Rogan defends Aspinall against critics
“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€
“I just hate that fans reacted the way they reacted – and it's the casual ones, it's the s**theads,†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€
Quotes via MMA Fighting
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This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM
ONE ChampionshipJonathan Haggerty spent last Friday watching someone else fight. Next month marks his own turn again, and the stakes are considerably higher for the reigning bantamweight kickboxing king.
Jonathan Haggerty defends his ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Championship against former divisional king Hiroki Akimoto in the main event of ONE SAMURAI 4 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, October 17.
The assignment comes after Haggerty watched his brother, Freddie Haggerty, grind out a unanimous decision over Rungruanglek TN Muaythai at The Inner Circle 30 in Bangkok's Lumpinee Stadium, a result that pushed Freddie's record to 25-5 and snapped Rungruanglek's five-fight winning streak. Freddie dropped Rungruanglek twice across the opening two rounds before closing the fight out on the back foot with sharp counters.
“It was a great performance. It was pushing for the stoppage, but we didn't get it,†Jonathan said. “It's all love; it's a learning curve. In this sport, you can never stop learning, so we'll go back to the drawing board.â€
Jonathan Haggerty predicts fireworks against Akimoto
Watching his brother's disciplined performance seemed to sharpen Jonathan's own approach heading into his title defense. He has never been one to shy away from bold declarations before a fight, and this time is no different.
The 29-year-old Englishman has spent a run spanning multiple weight classes and two disciplines building toward this kind of stage, defending gold on home soil in Japan against a fighter who once held the very title he now carries.
“I'm more than ready. Fans can expect fireworks, explosiveness, and a knockout.
“Thank you so much for always supporting me for years now. You guys are a big part of ONE Championship. Fans pick you up when you're down. They make you positive. That extra bit of motivation just spurs you on.â€
This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM
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