The fight was shaping up to be a fascinating contest, as the pair traded shots through an entertaining opening to their five-round contest at Etihad Arena. But, with the seconds counting down in the final minute of the round, an attempted palm-off by Gane resulted in the Frenchman poking Aspinall in both eyes simultaneously.
It immediately forced Aspinall to recoil in clear pain as referee Jason Herzog paused the contest to give Aspinall a five-minute injury timeout to have his eye inspected by the cageside doctors, and to hold a cold compress on his right eye, which appeared be the one worst affected.
Unfortunately, the eye-pokes rendered Aspinall unable to continue, as the showpiece title fight was waved off and ruled a no-contest.
There was a happier ending to the night’s other title fight, as Mackenzie Dern was crowned the strawweight champion in the co-main event.
Dern outbattled Virna Jandiroba in an entertaining back-and-forth battle that saw both women enjoy success on the feet in a bout that took place mostly in the striking realm. But, after five closely-contested rounds, it was Dern – and her much-evolved striking, courtest of her longtime coach Jason Parillo – who ran out the champion, with scores of 48-47, 48-47, 49-46.
Also on the main card, former bantamweight title challenger Umar Nurmgomedov put himself back in the title picture with a shutout win on the scorecards against the streaking Mario Bautista, while Alexander Volkov claimed a split-decision victory over Jailton Almeida.
The battle between heavyweight contenders Volkov and Almeida produced a largely disappointing 15 minutes, as Brazilian grappler Almeida’s apparent refusal to engage in any sort of stand-up exchanges with Volkov meant much of the action was spent on the mat.
But, despite his ability to take Volkov down almost at will, Almeida offered very little threat on the mat as he opted to maintain position, rather than pursue submissions or score with ground strikes.
It meant that Volkov, who enjoyed some, albeit limited, success with his strikes during the fight, nonetheless was able to do enough to earn nod from two of the three rounds, with Almeida’s lack of offense costing him dear, despite his positional control. The final scorecards read 28-29, 29-28, 29-28 in Volkov’s favour, with the big Russian now in position to potentially challenge for the heavyweight title.
But, after a fight that won’t make it onto any end-of-year highlight reels, he may be asked to win one more to leave no doubt before he gets a crack at championship gold.
The main card kicked off with a bang as rising Russian light heavyweight contender Azamat Murzakanov stopped Austrian contender Aleksandar Rakic with strikes in the first round, before calling for a number-one contender fight.
On the preliminary card, Australia’s Quillan Salkilld stole the show with a stunning head-kick knockout of Nasrat Haqparast. Salkilld accepted the short-notice matchup with Haqparast, who has been fighting in the UFC for longer than Salkilld has even been training MMA – but Salkilld showed how taking chances can pay off as he connected with a head-kick that knocked Haqparast out cold for one of the most spectacular, and scary, knockouts of 2025.
The other big finish on the prelims came from Brazil’s Valter Walker, who needed just 84 seconds to lock up his fourth heel-hook finish in consecutive fights as he finished UFC debutant Louie Sutherland in quickfire fashion to continue his rise up the UFC’s heavyweight rankings.
The rest of the preliminary card bouts went to the scorecards as the judges were kept busy early, but the standout fight of the bunch came in the featherweight matchup between Nathaniel Wood and Jose Miguel Delgado.
Delgado had Wood hurt early as he threatened to add to his two-fight, two-finish streak since joining the UFC. But Wood showed grit and heart in equal measure as he fought his way back into the fight to eventually claim a unanimous decision victory, earning scores of 29-28 on all three scorecards in a thrilling bout that could just as easily have gone Delgado’s way.
UFC 321: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Tom Aspinall vs Ciryl Gane ruled a no-contest (accidental eye-poke) – Round 1, 4:35– for UFC heavyweight title
- Mackenzie Dern def. Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) – for UFC women’s strawweight title
- Umar Nurmagomedov def. Mario Bautista via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Alexander Volkov def. Jailton Almeida via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Azamat Murzakanov def. Aleksandar Rakic via TKO (punch) – Round 1, 3:11
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Quillan Salkilld def. Nasrat Haqparast via knockout (head kick) – Round 1, 2:30
- Ikram Aliskerov def. Park Jun-Yong via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Ludovit Klein def. Mateusz Rebecki via majority decision (29-28, 28-27, 28-28)
- Valter Walker def. Louie Sutherland via submission (heel hook) – Round 1, 1:24
- Nathaniel Wood def. Jose Miguel Delgado via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Hamdy Abdelwahab def. Chris Barnett via unanimous decision (29-26, 29-27, 29-27)
- Mitch Rapolo def. Azat Maksum via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-27)
- Mizuki def. Jaqueline Amorim via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
