UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall requires further tests on his eye after his title defence at UFC 321 against Ciryl Gane ended as a no contest.

Gane accidentally poked the Briton in both eyes while attempting a punch late in the first round of their headline contest in Abu Dhabi.

Aspinall was unable to continue, telling referee Jason Herzog "I can't see", and it was waved off as a no contest with the Mancunian retaining his belt.

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

The 32-year-old suffered a serious knee injury in 2022 - tearing his medial collateral ligament (MCL) and his meniscus, and sustaining damage to his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) - and spent a year in recovery after surgery.

"It's a dangerous sport," Aspinall said in a video posted to his YouTube channel.

"It's way scarier than what I did to my knee. With your knee, you know it's going to be alright but you don't know how it's going to be with your eye."

Aspinall was making the first defence of his title after being upgraded from interim status following the retirement of former champion Jon Jones.

He flew back to England on Sunday and will undergo further tests to discover the full extent of the damage.

In the post-fight news conference, UFC president Dana White said Aspinall "didn't want to continue" after the eye poke.

He then suggested he would book a rematch between the pair, which would generate more interest than the first fight because of how well Gane performed.