Alex Pereira weighs in on UFC 321 eye poke controversy and backlash aimed at Tom Aspinall

UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira came to Tom Aspinall’s defense following a disappointing night at UFC 321.

UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall’s first undisputed title defense ended in disaster as he and Ciryl Gane went to a no-contest at UFC 321 last Saturday in Abu Dhabi. Just minutes into their fight, Gane accidentally eye poked Aspinall, leading the defending champion to lose vision and become unable to continue competing.

Since UFC 321, Aspinall has come under fire from some fans, pundits, and fellow fighters, who have accused him of looking for ‘the easy way out’ against Gane. TJ Dillashaw and Aljamain Sterling are two of Aspinall’s biggest critics since UFC 321.

Enter Alex Pereira, who could potentially move up to heavyweight for his next fight. As he watched on as Aspinall vs. Gane went to a no-contest, Pereira called out Jon Jones for a heavyweight clash at The White House next year.

Despite Pereira’s pursuits, he doesn’t believe Aspinall did himself a disservice in refusing to continue fighting at UFC 321.

Alex Pereira on Tom Aspinall: ‘You can’t say’ he faked eye injuries

In a recent interview with MMA Hoje, Pereira weighed in on the immense criticism heading in Aspinall’s direction since UFC 321.

“You can’t really know what happened,” Pereira said. “Only he knows…

“I mean, we know he wasn’t doing so well in the fight, but we’ve seen situations where a guy isn’t doing great, then something happens, like a penalty, and the guy comes back better.

“Some people are saying he was faking it. Man, honestly, you can’t say that. It’s hard to understand. One poke seemed to go deeper in the eye, and he didn’t complain about it, but he grabbed the other one from the outside. But we don’t know the impact there either, you know?” (h/t Bloody Elbow)