Tom Aspinall accuses Ciryl Gane of landing illegal blows on Alex Pereira before accepting rematch

Tom Aspinall has accused Ciryl Gane of bending the rules during his second-round knockout victory over Alex Pereira on Sunday night.

The Frenchman punched his ticket for a rematch with full champion Aspinall by claiming the interim heavyweight title on the South Lawn of the White House.

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When he and Aspinall locked horns for the first time back in October 2025, the fight ended in a No Contest after the Brit was left unable to continue following a brutal double eyepoke.

Aspinall watched on as an interested observer over the weekend, and while he was impressed by Gane’s performance, he felt that the Frenchman landed a lot of illegal strikes in the finishing sequence.

“[The elbows] look a bit illegal,” Aspinall said, in reference to some elbows that appeared to land on the back of Pereia’s head, while he watched the fight for a video on his YouTube channel.

“They look very illegal. What is going on?

“Dropped him with a jab, and he’s swinging now, trying to finish him.

“He’s still trying, though, Alex, but he still looks a bit wobbled.”

Pereira regained his footing after absorbing the shots in question, but he was eventually stopped against the cage as Gane continued to pour on the pressure.

“He looked good,” Aspinall said about Gane. “I have to watch that again.

“Looked like there was a lot of illegal elbows going on.

“Illegal punches, but generally, he looked good.”

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Tom Aspinall accepts rematch

In the immediate aftermath of his victory, Gane called for a second crack at Aspinall in September in Paris, France.

Aspinall gladly obliged: “Paris in September? I’ll do that.

“Let me know. I don’t mind. I’ll go to Paris. Let me know. I’ll be there.”

The latest on Tom Aspinall’s eye injuries

Following his inaugural encounter with Gane, Aspinall was diagnosed with traumatic bilateral Brown’s syndrome – a disorder where both eyes are restricted from looking upwards and inwards – and persistent double vision.

Aspinall underwent surgery on both eyes in February and returned to non-contact training in May.

While he is yet to be cleared to fight, his recovery is presumably going well if Aspinall is willing to return as early as September.