UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is on the mend after having surgery on both eyes.
Aspinall has been sidelined since October with blurred and double vision after being poked in both eyes by former interim titleholder Ciryl Gane in their UFC 321 headlining title bout. The fight was ruled a no contest and Aspinall retained the title but was left with an uncertain future.
On Tuesday, the champion provided a medical update via Instagram following operations on both eyes. His team at Optegra released a statement and are committed to get Aspinall’s vision back to ‘fighting fitness.’
“After his highly publicised eye poke injury, Optegra’s expert team is proud to have supported MMA fighter and UFC Heavyweight Champion @tomaspinallofficial. Over recent months we’ve been working closely with him on his recovery. Following his operation on both eyes we continue the journey to get Tom’s vision back to fighting fitness,” The Optegra statement read.
Aspinall is expected to rematch Gane when he’s fully recovered. It’s unknown when exactly that will be. The UFC 321 championship match was Aspinall’s first title defense as undisputed heavyweight titleholder. He’s earned seven ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses and holds the record for the shortest average fight time in UFC history.
