After months and months of slow recovery news and drama, Tom Aspinall is ready to return to the octagon.
The undisputed UFC heavyweight champion hasn’t fought since October 2025 when he was badly poked in both eyes by opponent Ciryl Gane. Thus began a lengthy saga that saw Aspinall undergo multiple surgeries to correct issues with his sight. Back in February it was revealed that his depth perception was so bad he couldn’t drive and missed peoples’ hands when trying to shake them. Things looked bad.
Now, things are starting to move in the right direction again, health-wise at least. On the business side, there may be a new stumbling block: Aspinall’s new manager Eddie Hearn, who also happens to be UFC CEO Dana White’s biggest rival in boxing. Since taking Aspinall on as a client, Hearn has questioned the amount of money the UFC paid Aspinall and vowed to get his client what he deserves.
The UFC is more of a ‘Take it or leave it’ kind of org when it comes to accepting the pay you signed a contract for, especially if you come at them wrong about it. So the good news is that Tom Aspinall is ready to sign his next fight. The bad news is there may be rocky negotiations ahead that could kill things just as surely as those eye injuries did.
“Honestly, this is a dangerous fight,” Hearn told Ariel Helwani of the Ciryl Gane rematch. “And some people still refuse to acknowledge that [Tom] had four eye operations and was told quite clearly he could have lost his vision. You’ve got to go back in there, do the same kind of thing, could happen again. This time it could be worse, or it could be a back of the head blow. All these other fouls that you see, it’s going to be that kind of fight. It’s not going to be easy.”
“So, if you’re going to put yourself through that, if you’re going to risk not just your legacy but your health and beyond, not to get too negative about things, you’ve got to be respected.”
“We’ve reached out to the UFC and we’ve told them,” Hearn continued. “Andy Aspinall, who’s got that relationship with Hunter [Campbell] and those guys, said ‘Look, Tom is ready.’ There’s going to be a conversation coming up about date and numbers. We’re not coming in there to cause a big argument. What we’re coming in to say is that there’s a huge amount of money in a fight between Ciryl Gane and Tom Aspinall. Contractually, the numbers are completely unfair in terms of the value that Tom Aspinall brings to that fight.”
“What we’re asking for is just to be respected,” Hearn concluded. “Just respect the fighter. That’s it. And we’re not difficult to work with. Tom’s really not difficult to work with. But that has to be acknowledged, in my opinion.”
It’s a real question as to whether the UFC will be willing to legitimately negotiate with Hearn at all, or if this will become another opportunity for White to stick it to his boxing rival. In this case, it’d be cutting off your nose to spite your face. The UFC heavyweight division has been a disaster since the UFC stopped getting along with former champ Francis Ngannou years ago. Then they couldn’t come to terms with their next champ Jon Jones. Now there’s this situation with Aspinall, who feels disrespected and overlooked by the UFC.
Hearn isn’t the kind of guy to keep negotiations secret, so we’ll hear more of this story as it develops. But the hope is Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane fight to unify the heavyweight titles sometime in the fall. Anything other than that should be considered a failure for fans.
