Joe Rogan is wishing Tom Aspinall the best during a critical time for the UFC heavyweight champion.
Aspinall remains sidelined for the foreseeable future as he continues his recovery from the disastrous
UFC 321 main event, which saw his first undisputed title defense end in a no-contest when challenger Ciryl Gane accidentally poked him in the eyes near the end of Round 1. The latest update from Aspinall is that he expects to undergo multiple surgeries to address his ongoing eye issues, with a timetable for his return not yet established.
Discussing the rocky state of the heavyweight division, Rogan wondered whether Aspinall will be available in the future to lead it.
“The Tom Aspinall-Ciryl Gane thing was a f*cking disaster,” Rogan said on his podcast. “I mean, that’s a disaster. Tom Aspinall still can’t see. He’s got a f*cked-up right eyeball still. The reality is he might not ever fight again. Like, who knows? If he has surgery on his eye, and it doesn’t go well and he can’t see out of the eye, apparently he’s still f*cked up in his right eye. There’s some tendon damage or something.
“Eyes are so tricky, you never know. Unless you’re a f*cking complete psychopath like Michael Bisping, who fought 11 fights in the UFC blind in one eye, which is so crazy that he did that.”
Aspinall is no stranger to losing time to injury. In July 2022, he suffered his lone UFC loss when a knee injury brought an end to a bout with Curtis Blaydes in just 15 seconds. The British standout returned a year later, defeating Marcin Tybura by first-round knockout, and then won his next two bouts, including avenging his loss to Blaydes in an interim heavyweight championship defense.
Following that win, Aspinall was sidelined for another long stretch as he waited for a bout with Jon Jones that never materialized. Combined with the no-contest against Gane and the subsequent fallout, Aspinall’s stock has cooled, though Rogan doesn’t think he should be blamed.
“I hope Tom gets back in because again, we don’t really know what’s going on with his eye,” Rogan said. “And for all the critics, you need to know this: The right eye, that’s the problem, but if you look at when he fought, his left eye, the finger went deeper in his left eye than it did his right eye. So if you think he’s faking it, he was knuckle-deep in that f*cking left eye. It’s horrible to see.”
Right now, the last thing the UFC heavyweight division needs is its champion to be out of the picture. Long considered one of MMA’s marquee weight classes, it is currently suffering from a dearth of star power at the top and a lack of promising talents in the lower ranks.
Speaking to top prospect Gable Steveson, Rogan broke down the dire state of the division and why getting Aspinall back in the cage is so important.
“The heavyweight division is so shallow right now,” Rogan said. “You’ve got Tom Aspinall, Ciryl Gane, Jon Jones if he chooses to fight again, Francis, if by some miracle they can work something out and bring him back to the UFC. Other than that, there’s no one compelling for a championship-caliber fighter.”
“The heavyweight division is, of course, the most prestigious division in the world,” Rogan added. “The heavyweight champion of the UFC is the baddest motherf*cker on the planet. Right now, it’s kind of a toss-up, right? Because Ciryl Gane had this fight with Aspinall. Jon is kind of semi-retired or whatever he decides to do, it’s kind of up in the air.”
