Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has been on the mend since being poked in the eye by former interim titleholder Ciryl Gane in the UFC 321 main event in October.
Late in the opening round of the title bout, Gane unintentionally eye poked Aspinall rendering him unable to continue. The fight was ruled a no contest and Aspinall retained the belt, but he’s not so sure the foul was accidental.
The champion has been sidelined since UFC 321 unable to train. He’s been evaluated by specialists and is reviewing his options.
“I’ve been having a lovely time just in and out of the hospital getting all kinds of different tests done on my eyes and speaking to specialists, speaking to surgeons, speaking to doctors. Oh, it’s been a fantastic time,” Aspinall sarcastically said on his YouTube channel. “The eye, well both eyes, but especially the right eye is still ongoing.”
Aspinall provided a medical update on Sunday, and detailed the severity of his injuries.
“Mr. Aspinall sustained significant bilateral ocular trauma during a professional sporting event in late October 2025,” the medical update read. “Immediate visual disturbance resulted in the fight being stopped.”
“I actually got eye poked twice in the fight,” Aspinall revealed. “First one wasn’t too bad. He got warned for it. The second one, obviously Ciryl Gane tried to make my head into a bowling ball with the double eye poke knuckle deep in both. So, yeah, I wouldn’t recommend it at all.”
Related: Tom Aspinall shares update as eye injury medical records get released
After having shared the octagon with Gane for nearly a whole round, Aspinall considers “Bon Gamin” to be a dirty fighter. He accused the Frenchman of cheating from the very beginning of the fight.
“I think that when it initially happened, I didn’t really think much of it. I thought accidental eye poke, whatever. Look, when I watched the fight back, that’s when I really got the gist of what’s going on,” Aspinall said.
“The guy was f**king trying to poke my eyes out all the way through that round. Multiple exchanges, nearly every exchange that I could put him in danger he had his fingers out pointing towards my eyes,” continued the champion.
“The guy was cheating from the first second, and the way he wanted to win that fight was to have me compromised by cheating… I think he’s a big cheater. I think that – look at all his fights.”