Lightweight contender Paddy Pimblett didn’t hold back when assessing UFC 321, calling it “one of the worst pay-per-views in UFC history” following a night that failed to live up to its expectations.

The card, headlined by Tom Aspinall’s heavyweight title defense against Ciryl Gane, ended in disappointment when the bout was ruled a no contest after an accidental double eye poke left Aspinall unable to continue. The anticlimactic finish drew boos inside Etihad Arena and criticism online from fans who had anticipated a definitive result.

On his YouTube channel, Pimblett expressed his frustration at how the event unfolded. “If this ends like that, it’s one of the biggest disappointments ever when it comes to a card,” he said.

While acknowledging a few early bright spots — including knockout and submission finishes on the prelims — Pimblett said the momentum vanished as the main card dragged on. He criticized the Volkov–Almeida and Nurmagomedov–Bautista fights for lacking energy, calling them “boring” and “flat.”

“The prelims weren’t bad,” Pimblett said. “But once the main card started, the energy dropped. Then the heavyweight main event ends like that, and everyone just leaves deflated.”

Despite his harsh critique of the card, Pimblett defended Aspinall’s decision not to continue after the eye poke, insisting that fighter safety must come first. “If he can’t see, he can’t fight,” Pimblett said. “It’s not his fault — it was unintentional, but it’s still Ciryl’s fingers that caused it. They’ve got to fix these gloves so this doesn’t keep happening.”

Pimblett concluded that the UFC should immediately rebook Aspinall vs. Gane, saying fans deserve a proper conclusion. “You can’t just leave it like that,” he said. “It was shaping up to be Tom’s toughest fight yet.”

For Pimblett, UFC 321 represented the rare night when everything went wrong — strong lineup, weak payoff. His review summed up the frustration many fans felt: a promising event that collapsed in the final moments, leaving the sport’s heavyweight picture as blurry as Aspinall’s vision that night.