UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has issued a statement following the eye poke injury that forced the premature end to his title defence against Ciryl Gane on Saturday night in Abu Dhabi.

In the main event of UFC 321, Aspinall and Gane squared off for the heavyweight title. After a competitive opening exchange in round one, Gane inadvertently poked Aspinall in both eyes at approximately the 4:35 mark. Aspinall reported that he couldn’t see and was unable to continue, prompting referee Jason Herzog to halt the fight and declare it a no contest.

“All that training for that. What the f—k is he doing?” said Aspinall in a post-fight social media update. “They were both bad. He got warned twice before it! Twice before he got warned for it. **** did it again!”

Following the bout, UFC President Dana White confirmed that the organisation plans to rebook the matchup between Aspinall and Gane. “[It’s] a total pain in the ass. But yes [I’d like to do the rematch],” said White.

Aspinall was transported to hospital after the incident, with initial medical reports indicating no serious damage, though further tests will be required before he returns to action. The result adds further uncertainty to the heavyweight division, which had been awaiting a definitive title defence from Aspinall.

The UFC’s heavyweight division has been in a state of limbo in recent years, with former champ Jon Jones fighting just once in defence of the title before retiring. Prior to that, another former champion, Francis Ngannou, left the organisation as titleholder to pursue high profile bouts in the boxing ring.

During Jones’ run as champion he was reluctant to face Aspinall — then the interim champion — leading to the unusual