Tom Aspinall has been diagnosed with a rare condition in both eyes and is not yet clear to return to action – more than a month after sustaining the injury during his heavyweight title defence at UFC 321.
French opponent Ciryl Gane accidentally poked the Briton in both eyes while attempting a punch late in the first round of their bout in Abu Dhabi on 25 October.
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Aspinall, 32, was unable to continue and retained his belt as the fight was waved off as a no-contest.
A medical report, posted by Aspinall on his Instagram account, shows he has been diagnosed with “significant traumatic bilateral Brown’s syndrome” and still suffering from “persistent” double vision.
Aspinall said has not heard from Gane since the fight and acknowledged in an update on his YouTube channel he might surgery.
“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.
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“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.”
Brown’s syndrome is a condition where the eye cannot move upwards, particularly when looking inward.
He also has reduced eye motility, visual function and substantial field loss.
Specialist treatment is ongoing and Aspinall “not yet medically cleared for combat activity”.
“Depending on clinical progression, targeted periocular [surrounding the eyeball] steroid injections or surgical intervention to address persistent motility [movement] impairment may be required if symptoms fail to resolve,” said the report.
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Earlier in November, veteran MMA referee Herb Dean said officials will look to more regularly enforce point deductions for eye pokes after the Aspinall incident.
Referee Jason Herzog elected to call the fight a no-contest, rather than disqualify Gane, 35, for the foul.
Calling the fight a no-contest meant he deemed the foul accidental rather than intentional.
A disqualification would have gone down as a win for Aspinall, who hopes get back into the cage with Gane when he has recovered.
He added: “I’m obviously very keen, very keen to get back and beat this guy up. But I’ve got to be 100% right. So whenever the eye’s good to go, that’s when I’ll do it.”
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UFC gloves are fingerless and the promotion introduced redesigned gloves in June 2024 in an effort to reduce eye pokes, cuts and hand injuries.
But in November 2024 they reverted back to the original style, which had not had a major redesign since becoming mandatory in 1997.