UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall still can’t see out of one eye after suffering a double eye poke in his controversial championship bout against Ciryl Gane on Oct. 25.
“(The doctor) said it’s bad, not good. His eye is a little bit more closed than it was. His right eye still can’t see anything. Said it’s gray,” Aspinall’s father, Andy, said Tuesday in a YouTube video.
“(They) tested him on words, and he just couldn’t see anything. His left eye, 50 percent. He went about four letters (down the letter chart) and then just couldn’t see letters. So one is really, really blurry and one is still not working.”
The UFC 321 main event in Abu Dhabi this past weekend ended in a no contest when Gane poked Aspinall in both of his eyes late in the first round.
Aspinall, 32, did not regain vision in his right eye during the five-minute official break, which resulted in the match being ruled a no contest.
Fans booed while he did a post-match interview inside the Octagon.
“Guys, I just got poked knuckle-deep in the eyeball. Why are you booing?” Aspinall (15-3) asked. “What am I supposed to do about it? I didn’t do the poke. I can’t see.”
Gane expressed remorse, and UFC honcho Dana White said he’ll book a rematch between the two.
“I’m feeling sorry,” Gane said, per the Associated Press. “I’m very sorry about that.”
The elder Aspinall added there’s nothing torn in his son’s eye, but the doctor said “it’s really bad.”
He added that are additional tests scheduled for later this week.
Andy expressed his displeasure with the sport’s rules that his son is suffering, while the offender only had to deal with a no-contest ruling.
“The guy who fouled him, no consequence to him, and there’s a consequence to Tom, and hopefully it’ll be alright, but it might not be,” Andy said to open the video.
