Aspinall recounts ordeal of eye surgery

Tom Aspinall says the aftermath of UFC 321 brought a far more serious challenge than the result of his fight with Ciryl Gane might suggest. The UFC heavyweight champion has not competed since that October bout ended as a no-contest after multiple eye pokes from Gane forced the stoppage. In the time since, Aspinall said he has undergone three operations on his eyes and dealt with an early fear that his sight might not return. Speaking on Great Company With Jamie Lang, he described treatment he called more painful and distressing than any surgery he had experienced before.

The medical consequences, Aspinall said, were difficult to convey to people who saw only an unfinished heavyweight fight. One operation was performed on his left eye, while the other two were on his right. His concern was most intense during the first two weeks after the injury, when he said he was genuinely scared about whether he would be able to see again. That private uncertainty ran alongside a public reaction he found harsh. Some fans accused him of looking for a way out of the contest or suggested that he did not want to continue. Aspinall said the response taught him that, on fight night, competitors can be viewed simply as entertainment. Fans pay to watch a bout, he said, and many will be unhappy when it cannot continue, even when the fighter is dealing with a serious injury and its consequences.

Aspinall says eye operations were his worst

Aspinall put the severity of the procedures in direct terms. He said he had previously undergone a vasectomy and believed that would be the most difficult surgery he would face. Eye surgery changed that view completely. Comparing the two experiences, he said the vasectomy was nothing beside the operations on his eyes. He described the eye treatment as horrendous and said it was worse than any surgery he had ever had.

His account of the procedures centered on the fact that he remained awake. Aspinall said medical staff used something to hold his eyeball open while they worked. The eye was numbed with drops, followed by an injection at the side. Despite that preparation, he said he could see instruments coming toward him and watch the process as they operated on his eyeball. For Aspinall, those details made the treatment much more than a routine recovery from a contest that did not reach a conclusion. The no-contest with Gane followed multiple eye pokes, but the experience afterward involved pain, surgery and uncertainty about his vision. He did not characterize the operations as a minor inconvenience attached to a fight result. Instead, he identified them as the most severe surgical experience of his life. His description also explains why the stoppage at UFC 321 carried consequences that were not apparent to every viewer in the immediate aftermath.

Fear and fan reaction followed UFC 321

Aspinall said the possibility of lasting vision loss frightened him at the beginning of his recovery. The first two weeks were especially troubling, and he said he was “super scared” during that period. At the same time, he continued to see comments arguing that he had ducked out of the fight or had not wanted to be there. His answer was not built around relitigating the stoppage. Rather, he spoke about the distance between what an audience expects from a scheduled fight and what an injured athlete faces once the event is over. He said he has learned that fighters are Saturday night entertainment in the eyes of many people. If a fighter is not able to remain in a bout, Aspinall said, fans may turn against that person because they wanted to see the contest for which they paid. He called that reality unpleasant and harsh, but added that he cannot expect millions of people to care about him personally. He also said many people making judgments about the toughness of a professional MMA fighter have never fought themselves and may not understand what it takes to reach that level. Before facing Gane, Aspinall won the interim heavyweight title at UFC 295 in November 2023, knocking out Sergei Pavlovich in 69 seconds. He defended that interim belt at UFC 304 in July 2024 by stopping Curtis Blaydes in one minute. Eleven months later, he became undisputed champion after Jon Jones notified the UFC of his retirement. The Gane fight then left his competitive run on hold while he underwent treatment and confronted the reaction to its no-contest ending.

• Aspinall said his post-fight treatment involved three eye surgeries: one on the left eye and two on the right.
• He remained awake during the procedures, which included numbing drops, an injection and a device used to keep the eye open.
• His concern over possibly losing his sight was strongest in the first two weeks after the UFC 321 injury.

Aspinall’s remarks shift the focus from a disputed fan response to the physical cost of the injury sustained at UFC 321. He said three surgeries followed the bout, with treatment on both eyes, and recalled being frightened about his ability to see during the first two weeks. While he understands why disappointed viewers wanted a complete fight, Aspinall said the comments accusing him of avoiding the contest ignored the painful recovery that followed. His account presents the no-contest not as a simple interruption, but as the beginning of an ordeal he considered worse than any previous surgery.