Tom Aspinalls injured eye went back to square one while preparing for UFC

Tom Aspinall's seemingly endless road back to the UFC took another devastating turn while the now-former heavyweight champion was preparing for a return at UFC 334.

Aspinall announced Monday that he has vacated the UFC heavyweight title as he continues to struggle with the effects of the eye injuries he suffered against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in October 2025. Following the news, Uncrowned's Ariel Helwani reported Monday that Aspinall was preparing to face Gane in a Nov. 14 rematch at UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden before reaggravating his injured right eye during training.

Helwani reported that Aspinall was not given an official ultimatum by the UFC to relinquish his title, although the clock was obviously ticking as his recovery continued to stretch deeper into 2026 and potentially into 2027. The UFC was aware of Aspinall's latest setback and has helped facilitate medical appointments throughout the process.

Helwani detailed more about what happened — and what comes next — on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show":

"He [was] preparing [for UFC 334], he's sparring, he's training. He gets hit. The eye starts to act up, and essentially, for all intents and purposes, the right eye goes back to square one. Now he can't train, can't see. Periphery, black spots. Mess of a situation. [He] informs the UFC, chills for a month, goes in for a scan — scan was very bad. Results were not good. Goes in for another scan — UFC is aware of all of this, they're even helping to facilitate the appointments and whatnot. Doctor refuses to clear him, says, 'You are not 100%, that eye is in a very, very bad spot.'

"[He] goes to get a second opinion relatively recently, doctor says, 'I cannot sign off on this. This right eye is a pretty big problem.' The cells have to rejuvenate, they have to heal. Left eye is good, as I said. The right eye, which has had two surgeries on it at this point — a second one caused by the infection after it was scraped — needs to heal.

"They're now telling him that he needs to come back in January. That he just needs to wait, he needs to let the eye heal, rest up, don't get hit, don't get scraped, don't have any issues — come back in January and hopefully that's enough time for the cells to rejuvenate, regenerate and get back to 100%. If they don't, that could mean a fourth surgery and a third on the right eye, which would obviously be devastating.

"It feels like there is hope, there's confidence that at some point next year he can return. But it also felt like, 'Just take this thing. Take this belt, do your thing, figure it out. Once the belt is yours, the questions can hopefully go away, the spotlight goes away, let me just get back to 100% and then as the uncrowned champion, I come back and I fight the champion."

Aspinall's latest update comes nearly a year after his UFC 321 bout with Gane ended in unceremonious fashion and ignited a firestorm of debate within the combat world about Gane's actions and Aspinall's inability to continue. Aspinall (15-3, 1 NC) has repeatedly blasted Gane as a "big cheater" in the months since the bout, accusing the French heavyweight of purposefully targeting his eyes throughout their one-round fight.

This past February, four months after the incident, Aspinall acknowledged to Uncrowned that he was still unable to track moving targets and struggled with daily tasks.

Despite Monday's latest setback, there remains optimism that the now-former champ may be able to resume his UFC career sometime in 2027. For now, though, the division has already begun to move on, with top-ranked heavyweight contenders Josh Hokit and Alex Pereira both calling for undisputed title bouts against interim champion Gane.

Gane defeated Pereira in June via controversial second-round knockout at the UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House's South Lawn to win the interim belt.