Tom Aspinall has been diagnosed with a rare condition in both eyes and is not yet clear to return to action as he provided a worrying update on the injury he sustained in his heavyweight title defence against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321.
Gane accidentally poked the Briton in both eyes towards the end of the first round of their bout in Abu Dhabi on 25 October, with replays supporting his post-fight complaint that the Frenchman’s finger had gone “knuckle-deep” into his eye.
The 32-year-old champion, making his long-awaited first defence as undisputed champion, could not continue and the fight was waved off as a No Contest before the first round could end.
Aspinall has now issued his first substantial update on the status of the injury, posting a medical report on his Instagram account that shows he has been diagnosed with “significant bilateral Brown’s syndrome” – a rare condition where the eye cannot move upwards, particularly when looking inward.
He is also still suffering from “persistent double vision” and has reduced eye motility, visual function and substantial field loss.
Aspinall has not been cleared to fight let alone train and admitted that he might require surgery, which could prevent him from fighting in 2026.
“We’ve got to see how it goes over the next few weeks. Obviously that’s down to the specialists and stuff, but I’m not in the gym training at the moment,” he said on his YouTube channel.
“I’m not doing anything MMA-wise at the moment. I’m just following the doctor’s orders right now and seeing what happens with the health.”
Aspinall is undergoing specialist treatment and has seen improvements since suffering the injury over a months ago, but the report states that “targeted periocular (surrounding the eyeball) steroid injections or surgical intervention to address persistent motility impairment may be required if symptoms fail to resolve”.
Gane escaped disqualification for the eye-poke in UFC 321’s main event after referee Jason Herzog deemed it accidental rather than intentional.
The Atherton fighter says he has not had any contact with Gane since their bout and is keen to get back into the cage with the 35-year-old when he recovers.
“I’m obviously very keen to get back and beat this guy up. But I’ve got to be 100% right,” Aspinall added. “So whenever the eye’s good to go, that’s when I’ll do it.”
