Tom Aspinall is still struggling with his eyes.
In October, Aspinall made the first defense of his undisputed title when he took on former interim champion Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 321. It didn’t
go great. After struggling early in the fight, Aspinall suffered a major eye poke that rendered him unable to continue, resulting in a no-contest.
Afterward, Aspinall caught it in the teeth from many in the MMA community, with some suggesting he was looking for a way out of a fight he was struggling in, or worse, outright accusing him of being a quitter. Aspinall, for his part, says he is still having vision problems and gave an update on his YouTube channel on Sunday.
“By the time this is going out, I’ll probably have had surgery on one side already,” Aspinall said. “Next surgery is coming mid-January. So, we’re working toward getting back. That’s the plan.”
Aspinall has been struggling with his eyes since the fight, previously saying he’s been to multiple doctors and was diagnosed with “bilateral traumatic Brown’s syndrome,” an issue which, per the Cleveland Clinic, affects the muscles or tendons that control eye movement, and can cause decreased sight, double vision, and loss of depth perception.
Recovery from a surgical correction can take several months, meaning Aspinall will likely not be able to return to full training until the spring of next year. But whenever he does return, the heavyweight champion is looking for some payback on Gane.
“The guy was cheating from the first second, and the way he wanted to win that fight was to have me compromised by cheating,” Aspinall said earlier this month. “… Obviously, I’m very keen, very keen to get back and beat this guy up, but I’ve got to be 100 percent right. So, whenever the eye’s good to go, that’s when I’ll do it.”
