Aspinall

Tom Aspinall’s first defence of his undisputed heavyweight title ended in bitter disappointment after an accidental eye poke from Ciryl Gane left the Briton unable to continue at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi.

At the end of a competitive first round, France’s Gane poked Aspinall in both eyes while attempting a punch, with the referee stopping the contest.

Aspinall, 32, could be seen telling the doctor “I can’t see” as he held a cloth to his eye, and with the Briton unable to fight on the referee deemed the bout a no-contest.

The result meant Aspinall retained his title – but not in the way he wanted to and he showed his frustration in his post-fight interview as the crowd booed the outcome.

“Guys, I just got poked knuckle deep in the eyeball. Why are you booing? I can’t see,” said a crestfallen Aspinall.

“The fight was just getting going. I can hardly open my eye. Look! It was a double eye poke.”

Aspinall was taken to hospital after the fight and did not appear for the post-fight news conference.

Calling the fight a no-contest means the referee deemed the foul accidental rather than intentional, which would have resulted in a disqualification.

A disqualification would have gone down as a win for Aspinall.

Gane was equally annoyed at the outcome and could be seen pacing around the edge of the octagon, shaking his head, as the result was announced.

“I feel sorry. I’m sorry for the crowd, for the fans, I’m sorry for Tom Aspinall and sorry for myself,” said Gane.

“We put a lot of energy in this fight so I’m disappointed, but this is the sport, this is life.

“I don’t know what is going to happen for the future, but we will see.”

Nathan Aspinall threw two nine-dart finishes during the Players Championship 31 only to be blown away in the final – as Luke Littler suffered an early exit.

Aspinall, 34, produced perfect darts in a 6-4 victory over Irishman Steve Lennon in the second round, then repeated the feat in a 6-5 win over Germany’s Lukas Wenig in the last 16.

Englishman Aspinall had taken a 2-0 lead against Jermaine Wattimena of the Netherlands in the final in Wigan.

However, Wattimena reeled off eight legs on the bounce to clinically see off Aspinall and seal his second ranking title of the season.

Luke Littler, on the back of a semi-final defeat by Beau Greaves in the World Youth Championship on Monday, suffered a first-round exit as he lost 6-4 to fellow Englishman Ritchie Edhouse.

The 18-year-old world champion is currently 67th in the Players Championship standings, external and has three events to secure his place in the top 64 to qualify for the finals.

Michael van Gerwen is also in danger of not qualifying after he was knocked out at the same stage with a 6-4 loss to Dom Taylor.

The Dutchman is 92nd in table and must now make the final in the Players Championship 32 on Wednesday to secure his spot because he is skipping the final two events because of a pre-booked holiday.

There are 34 Players Championship events across the year, with the competition’s finals held in Minehead from 21-23 November.

Luke Humphries turned on the style to beat Nathan Aspinall 2-0 and reach the second round of the World Grand Prix in Leicester.

Premier League champion Humphries edged a close first set 3-2, despite Aspinall recovering from a slow start to win the second leg with a ‘big fish’ finish of two treble 20s followed by a bullseye.

Aspinall struggled to start with doubles – a requirement of the double-in double-out format – as fellow Englishman Humphries took advantage and launched into the second set with a brutal 156 finish.

Humphries recovered from a wobble to see out the second set 3-0 and set up a second-round meeting with Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski, who beat Germany’s Martin Schindler 2-0.

“It was a big game. Nathan is a fantastic player,” Humphries told Sky Sports.

“He struggled to get in a few times and he let me in with that 156, which was a big shot there to take the game towards myself.

“My scoring was a bit strange, they just didn’t want to drop in.

“Hopefully on Wednesday I can come back and be better.”

England’s Stephen Bunting – who recently won the Swiss Darts Trophy for his sixth title of the season – beat Germany’s Niko Springer 2-0, and fifth seed James Wade fell to a surprise 2-0 defeat to Joe Cullen in an all-English contest.

The first round continues on Tuesday as Peter Wright takes on 2024 Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker, Luke Littler faces Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen plays Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Monday’s results:

Luke Humphries 2-0 Nathan Aspinall

Gary Anderson 2-1 Raymond van Barneveld

Rob Cross 2-1 Wessel Nijman

Krzysztof Ratajski 2-0 Martin Schindler

Cameron Menzies 2-0 Chris Dobey

Joe Cullen 2-0 James Wade

Danny Noppert 2-1 Jermaine Wattimena

Stephen Bunting 2-0 Niko Springer

Tuesday’s matches:

Damon Heta v Luke Woodhouse

Ross Smith v Daryl Gurney

Jonny Clayton v Andrew Gilding

Gerwyn Price v Ryan Searle

Luke Littler v Gian van Veen

Michael van Gerwen v Dirk van Duijvenbode

Peter Wright v Mike de Decker

Josh Rock v Ryan Joyce