Tom Aspinall has been diagnosed with rare eye condition after an accidental eye poke ended his UFC heavyweight title defence against Ciryl Gane in October.
Tom Aspinall has been diagnosed with rare eye condition after an accidental eye poke ended his UFC heavyweight title defence against Ciryl Gane in October.
Aspinall posted a medical report on his Instagram account on Sunday showcasing he is having double vision, reduced eye motility, visual function and a substantial field loss.
“Depending on clinical progression, targeted periocular steroid injections or surgical intervention to address persistent motility impairment may be required if symptoms fail to resolve,” the report showed.
Brown’s syndrome is a rare eye condition where one eye has trouble moving upward.
“We’ve got to see how it goes over the next few weeks. I’m not in the gym training at the moment,” the 32-year-old Englishman said in a video posted on his YouTube channel on Sunday.
“I’m not doing anything MMA wise at the moment. I’m just following the doctor’s orders right now.”
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Aspinall said he is eager to get back into the cage with Gane and will do so when he is declared fit: “I’ve got to be 100 per cent right. So whenever the eye’s good to go, that’s when I’ll do it.”
Aspinall made ‘right decision’ to stop UFC heavyweight title fight
Ciryl Gane pokes the eye of Tom Aspinall during the heavyweight title bout (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
The fight ended controversially in a ‘no contest’ after the champion from Salford was unable to continue following an accidental eye poke in the opening round in Abu Dhabi.
When attempting a punch, Gane caught his opponent’s eyes with his fingers, causing Aspinall to stop the fight, telling the cageside doctor that he could not see.
It’s a decision that has left fight fans divided but in an interview with Sky Sports, former UFC star Muhammad Mokaev expressed his support for the British fighter.
“I don’t think he deserves the criticism,” Mokaev told Sky Sports. “It’s the right decision what he did, you cannot buy health.
“He is the champion, if you are a contender and you get an eye poke then maybe you can continue fighting, if you lose you lose, it doesn’t matter.
“If you are champion and you lose, you will never explain to anyone that you got eye poked.
“It’s definitely not because he was scared of him, he wouldn’t have signed the contract if he was.
“I don’t believe these casual fans all hating him for no reason. I have known Tom Aspinall since I was 13 years old, he is one of the best people I have ever met in my life.”
Training partner and super-welterweight boxer April Hunter has also voiced her support for Aspinall.
“He’s had two fingers in his eyeballs,” Hunter told Sky Sports. “I see he’s getting a lot of stick online, if you can’t see you can’t see. I feel for him and hopefully he has a speedy recovery.”
