Tom Aspinall isn’t any closer to returning to action after suffering a gruesome eye injury in his last fight.
UFC heavyweight champion Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) finally looked set to put his long-running “will they, won’t they” saga with predecessor Jon Jones behind him when he was matched to face Ciryl Gane in his first appearance since being promoted to undisputed titleholder at UFC 321 on October 25.
The fight ended in disaster, however, when the Englishman was poked in both eyes by Gane, resulting in the bout being declared a no contest.
After remaining tight-lipped since the incident, Aspinall posted an update on Sunday revealing that he is suffering from bilateral traumatic Brown’s syndrome, along with several detailed medical documents.
"Following a bilateral eye-poke injury sustained during a UFC fight in October 2025, the patient has been diagnosed with bilateral traumatic Brown's syndrome, indicating significant disruption to the superior oblique tendon-trochlear complex. Clinically, he presents with:
- Persistent diplopia in multiple gaze positions, including lateral gaze and upgaze.
- Blurred vision and photophobia following the trauma.
- Marked restriction of elevation in adduction in both eyes, confirmed on orthoptic assessment.
- Reduction in visual acuity bilaterally.
Severe bilateral visual field depression on Humphrey visual field testing.Imaging and investigations demonstrated:
- Findings requiring continued monitoring, with no definitive structural explanation identified for the degree of functional deficit.
- CT imaging initially raised concern for a medial orbital wall abnormality.
- MRI demonstrated no acute structural abnormality to account for motility impairment or visual symptoms.
- Intraocular pressures and anterior segment findings did not identify the source of functional limitation."
Aspinall remains uncleared to compete, meaning yet another break from competition for the 32-year-old. Aspinall was out of action for a year after injuring his knee in a fight against Curtis Blaydes in 2022, and has only competed twice since winning the interim title at UFC 295 over 2 years ago.
