Justin Gaethje shares sympathy for Tom Aspinall

News of Tom Aspinall vacating the UFC heavyweight title has dominated the MMA space in recent weeks.

The Brit steamrolled his way to the top of his division, beating everyone standing across the cage from him in devastating fashion. His performances placed him in some lofty conversations. Greatest heavyweight of all time. One of the best fighters on the planet. The praise was tall. But all that came crashing down when he fell victim to a double eye poke during his title defense against Ciryl Gane. An incident for which he should take no part of the blame has been used to attack his character and ability since that fateful night on October 25, 2025.

But surely it is only up from here, right? Wrong. After almost a year away from competing, anticipation was beginning to build in the Tom Aspinall camp. It looked like his comeback was on the horizon, with dates being planned and an immediate return to training. But during a sparring session, Aspinall suffered another eye poke, aggravating his injury, and was again forced out. The eye issues persist. And because of that, his time as champion has come to an end, with rumors suggesting his career may be over in its entirety.

Hearing about the news for the first time, Justin Gaethje offered his condolences to Tom Aspinall, saying:

“Terrible. I’m not happy for him. I think that’s, yeah. It sucks. It sucks to go through that, for sure.”

Gaethje himself is managing several injuries and has revealed that his first undisputed title defense will have to wait until next year. A deep bone bruise in his knee and problems in his hand are just some of the issues ‘The Highlight’ is dealing with.

Feeling sorry for Aspinall, Gaethje continued:

“In practice? I mean, it happens, obviously. We use open-hand gloves, so it’s definitely a possibility. But that sucks.”