Salford UFC fighter Tom Aspinall diagnosed with rare eye condition

Salford-born fighter Tom Aspinall has revealed he is still suffering from double vision and blurriness in his eyes, as well as Brown Syndrome, 6 weeks after his heavyweight bout with Cyril Gane at UFC 321.

He was accidentally poked in both eyes by French opponent Ciryl Gane in the first round of their fight in Abu Dhabi on 25 October.

The 32-year-old was unable to continue and retained his belt after a no-contest was awarded.

Aspinall posted his diagnosis on Instagram with the confirmed clinical findings from the doctors. He could require more medical treatment if his condition does not improve.

It can be seen on his Instagram post that he has been suffering with double vision, blurred vision and marked restriction in both eyes when trying to look upwards and to the side.

The UFC heavyweight champion has been advised not to drive, fight or even train until these symptoms clear.

On his personal YouTube channel, Aspinall published a video titled ‘My first update since my eye injury,’ where he replies to questions from MMA fans.

The Salford-born fighter points out that the pain in both of his eyes is still “ongoing”, but especially his “right eye.”

“I actually got eye poked twice in the fight. The first one wasn’t too bad, he got warned for it. The second one, Cyril Gane, tried to make my head a bowling ball with the double eye poke knuckle deep in both.

“I think that when it initially happened, I didn’t really think much of it, I thought accidental eye poke, whatever. But when I watched the fight back, that’s when I really got the gist of what’s going on. The guy was trying to poke my eyes out all the way through that round.

“Nearly every exchange, when I could put him in danger, he had his fingers out, aiming towards my eyes.”

Aspinall said: “I’m not going to out there and fight one of the best strikers in the world, when I cannot see with any eye.

“It’s not up to me it’s up to the doctors; at the minute I’m not allowed to do anything, so I’m just following advice at the moment.”

It is now known when Aspinall will be well enough to defend the UFC Heavyweight world championship belt.