UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall finally addressed the full extent of his eye injury from UFC 321 in an exclusive interview with Adam Catterall, offering fans a clear picture of what went wrong in Abu Dhabi and what comes next. Aspinall suffered a double eye poke from Ciryl Gane in the opening round on October 25, 2025, an incident that forced the referee to stop the fight and rule it a no-contes, —the first time a UFC title match ended due to eye pokes.
How Severe Is Tom Aspinall’s Eye Injury? UFC Heavyweight Champ Breaks it Down
When asked to describe what he’s actually experiencing, Aspinall didn’t hold back. “Just not being able to see properly, mainly,” he told Catterall. “Double vision, yeah. I’m not blind. I’m not going to pull a Stevie Wonder, mate, like my eye’s fully poked out, but just double vision mainly.” It’s a deliberate effort to clarify the severity without dramatizing it, though the medical reality is serious. Medical documents revealed Aspinall was diagnosed with bilateral traumatic Brown’s syndrome, a rare condition that disrupts the superior oblique tendon-trochlear complex in both eyes, causing restricted upward eye movement and persistent double vision.
The timing of his recovery is now locked in. Aspinall confirmed he’ll undergo surgery on his worst eye next week, with a second operation scheduled for mid-January on the other eye. “The first eye is going to be sorted next week. We’re going to have surgery on that next week. Second one’s got to be done midway through January,” he explained. The goal is straightforward: eliminate the double vision and restore proper vision.
“Originally the plan is to get the double vision gone and get my vision back properly,” Aspinall said, though he made clear he’s not in a position to guarantee outcomes. “I’m not an eye doctor, so I wouldn’t want to break it down and then someone say, ‘Oh, this is wrong. That’s wrong.’”
Aspinall emphasized that his immediate focus remains on health, not fighting. “I’m just thinking about my health at the minute, to be honest,” he said. “You’ve got to take one step at a time, don’t you?” However, the championship rematch is part of his long-term vision. “Obviously, the plan is to go back and beat the living daylights out of Gane,” he stated, before pivoting back to the present. “But right now the short-term plan is to get back to where I should be, get back in the gym.”
“Being without your vision, that’s pretty scary,” he acknowledged. Yet he’s used the past ten weeks to reassess his priorities. “I’ve learned so much about myself and other people.”