The UFC 321 main event ended in the most anticlimactic way imaginable.
An inadvertent eye poke from Ciryl Gane in the opening round rendered Tom Aspinall unable to see out of his right eye and their heavyweight title fight was called off and declared a no-contest.
Gane was having more success against Aspinall than any of Aspinall’s previous UFC opponents early in the fight. Aspinall was landing more strikes but had his nose bloodied with a stiff jab.
The fight was paused after Aspinall had both of his eyes poked by Gane in the opening round and it was ultimately called off once it was clear Aspinall was impaired.
Aspinall could be heard saying, “I can’t see anything,” after the bout was stopped.
It had been 456 days since Aspinall last competed in the UFC after a lengthy layoff during which the UFC attempted but failed to put together a blockbuster Aspinall vs. Jon Jones matchup.
Aspinall retained his heavyweight title but it is unclear the extent and severity of his eye injury. Fight fans will have to wait to see if the UFC will end up rebooking the matchup for some time in 2026.
In the co-main event, Mackenzie Dern won a five-round unanimous decision over Virna Jandiroba to become the new champion in the 115-pound division.
Also on the main card, Umar Nurmagomedov rebounded from his January loss to bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili with a clean sweep of the scorecards against Mario Bautista.
Nurmagomedov could potentially be in line for another title shot after his decision win over Bautista, who entered Saturday’s card on an eight-fight winning streak. Dvalishvili is set to defend his 135-pound championship at UFC 323 in December against former titleholder Petr Yan, who was in attendance at UFC 321.
Alexander Volkov, in theory, positioned himself for the next heavyweight title shot after edging out a split decision against Jailton Almeida in a bout that was billed as a title eliminator. Almeida was able to take Volkov down seven times in the match but didn’t throw many strikes, and the judges valued Volkov’s damage over Almeida’s control time.
Azamat Murzakanov stayed undefeated and improved to 6-0 in the UFC with a first-round technical knockout win over Aleksandar Rakic to kick off the pay-per-view portion of the card.
The 36-year-old Russian now has three consecutive KO/TKO wins after stopping Brendson Ribeiro earlier this year and putting away Alonzo Menifield in his lone 2024 appearance. Murzakanov called for a No. 1 contender’s bout following his win over Rakic, who has now lost four consecutive fights.
The preliminary card was capped off by touted Australian lightweight Quillan Salkilld knocking out Nasrat Haqparast with a devastating head kick knockout.
Rising Brazilian heavyweight star Valter Walker kept his hot streak alive and extended his own UFC record by earning his fourth consecutive heel hook submission win. The 27-year-old tapped out UFC newcomer Louie Sutherland in just 84 seconds.
UFC 321 was the 22nd UFC card held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, since 2010 and the 10th consecutive event in the city held at Etihad Arena.
