Dustin Poirier questions fans' expectations of Tom Aspinall: 'I've never seen him in a real fight'

Aspinall and his humorous side. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook/tomaspinallofficial

Recovering from eye surgery, Tom aspinall one is forced to watch the development of one's category through the dispute between Alex Poatán e Cyryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title (up to 120,2 kg). In this scenario, the Briton is definitely not having a good moment in his career, mainly due to the change in perception by a large part of the fans. For Dustin poirierFor example, the MMA world formed strong opinions about the athlete in a hasty manner.

See too

Alex Poatan encourages his friend and coach Plínio Cruz to return to fighting and makes a bet.

What a moral! Dana White explains the lineup of Diego Lopes and Mauricio Ruffy at UFC Casa Branca.

Gregory Robocop speaks out after rematch against Brunno Hulk at UFC 326

According to the former fighter, even though Aspinall is a talented athlete, there are still questions about the heavyweight champion's (up to 120,2 kg) ability to overcome adversity. With the exception of his loss to... Curtis blaydes After suffering a knee injury, all of the Englishman's victories have come in very dominant fights.

“I wanted to see Tom have to come back… lose a round and recover. I’ve never seen him in a real fight, where you have to fight to get back into the game. That’s why the crowd impressed me so much; these guys were completely in love with Aspinall. For a few months, everyone was talking about how good he was. I never saw that happen, not that he isn’t. He must be good to be where he is. But I never saw that happen,” he said in an interview on the podcast 'The Joe Rogan Experience' last Tuesday (17).

👀🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dustin poirier says fan base jumped on Tom aspinall hype train too early without seeing him deal with adversities in the fights:

"I wanted to see Tom have to come back.. lose a round and comeback. I've never seen him in a real fight when you have to fight your way back to… pic.twitter.com/SwA31kGBUp

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) March 19, 2026

Tom Aspinall experienced a competitive environment in his last fight.

Duel of Tom aspinall e Cyryl Gane ended without result in UFC 321Photo: UFC News / Twitter

Tom's last fight should have been his first title defense against Cyryl GaneIn October 2025, the Briton was poked in the eyes at the end of the first round and was forced to abandon the fight, which ended in a no contest. Despite remaining the champion, the division is clearly developing without his participation.