How bad is Tom Aspinall’s eye injury? UFC Heavyweight Champion Reveals: “Being Without Your Vision.”

UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall finally discussed the full extent of his eye injury from UFC 321 in an exclusive interview with Adam Catterall, giving 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 serious is Tom Aspinall’s eye injury? UFC heavyweight champion breaks it down

When asked to describe what he actually experiences, Aspinall didn’t hesitate. “Mainly because I couldn’t see properly,” he told Catterall. “Double vision, yeah. I’m not blind. I’m not going to pull a Stevie Wonder, buddy, like my eye is completely sticking out, but mostly double vision.” It is a deliberate attempt to convey the seriousness without dramatizing it, even though the medical reality is serious. Medical documents showed that Aspinall was bilaterally traumatic Brown’s syndromea rare condition that disrupts the superior oblique tendon-trochlear complex in both eyes, causing limited upward eye movements and persistent diplopia.

The timing of his recovery is now set. Aspinall confirmed he will undergo surgery on his worst eye next week, with a second operation planned for mid-January on the other eye. “The first eye will be repaired next week. We will have surgery on it next week. The second eye should be ready by mid-January,” he explained. The goal is simple: eliminate double vision and restore good vision.

“Originally the plan was to get rid of the double vision and get my vision back,” Aspinall said, although he made it clear he is not in a position to guarantee the outcome. “I’m not an ophthalmologist, so I wouldn’t want to break it down and have someone say, ‘Oh, this is wrong. That’s wrong.'”

Aspinall emphasized that his immediate focus remains on health, not fighting. “To be honest, all I’m thinking about is my health right now,” he said. “You have to take it one step at a time, right?” However, the championship rematch is part of his long-term vision. “The plan is clearly to go back and beat the life out of Gane,” he stated, before returning to the present. “But right now the short-term plan is to get back to where I should be, get back in the gym.”

“It’s kind of scary to be without a vision,” he acknowledged. Still, he has used the past ten weeks to reassess his priorities. “I learned so much about myself and other people.”