Tom Aspinall erupts on 'big cheater' Ciryl Gane, Dana White as he reveals potential eye surgery

Tom Aspinall continues to have vision issues more than five weeks after his controversial no-contest against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321. In a new update released Sunday, the embattled UFC heavyweight champion said he has been "in and out of the hospital" since Gane's double eye-poke and that there is currently "talk of surgery on the eyes." Aspinall also released detailed doctor's notes on his diagnosis and said he still has no knowledge of a potential timeline for him to return to MMA training.

Aspinall's latest update comes more than a month after his UFC 321 heavyweight title defense ended in unceremonious fashion and ignited a firestorm of debate within the combat world about Gane's actions and Aspinall's inability to continue in their bout.

In a medical timeline posted Sunday on social media, Aspinall appeared to be diagnosed with "significant bilateral ocular trauma requiring ongoing consultant-led management." The notes suggest that Aspinall's symptoms are "consistent with significant traumatic bilateral Brown's syndrome, associated with ongoing diplopia, restricted ocular motility, reduced visual function and substantial field loss." The notes further add that Aspinall's symptoms "remained unresolved as of late November 2025."

Per the Cleveland Clinic:

Brown syndrome is an issue with the muscle or tendon that controls your eyes’ movements (your superior oblique muscle and tendon). ... It makes it hard or impossible to move your eye freely in all directions. It’s usually hard for people with Brown syndrome to look in and up at the same time. Brown syndrome can also affect how far up your eye can move.

If you have Brown syndrome in one of your eyes, you’ll still be able to see out of it, but it won’t move freely as you look in other directions. It might feel like your eye is “stuck” or can’t quite move all the ways it usually can.

In a follow-up video posted Sunday to his YouTube channel, Aspinall said both eyes are still suffering from the damage, however his right eye, in particular, has been badly affected.

Aspinall also tore into Gane as a "big cheater" and accused the French contender of purposefully targeting his eyes throughout their one-round bout. Various footage of Gane leading with outstretched fingers and coming dangerously close to poking Aspinall's eyes before the fateful incident are spliced together to paint an admittedly convincing picture.

Said Aspinall:

"When it initially happened, I didn't really think much of it. I thought, 'Accidental eye-poke, whatever.' But look, when I watched the fight back, that's when I really got the gist of what's going on. The guy was trying to f***ing poke my eyes out, all the way through that round. Multiple exchanges, nearly every exchange where I could put him in danger, he had his fingers out point toward my eyes.

"The guy was cheating from the first second, and the way that he wanted to win that fight was to have me compromised by cheating.

"My thoughts on him, I think he's a big cheater. I think that, look at all these fights. Even Jon Jones himself, even the GOAT himself, said before he fought him that Ciryl Gane's a cheater and uses dirty tactics."

Perhaps the most revealing exchange on the video, though, came when Aspinall's interviewer asked the UFC heavyweight champion whether he was displeased with UFC CEO Dana White, who rather than coming to Aspinall's defense in the post-fight chaos instead proclaimed at UFC 321's post-fight press conference that Aspinall chose not to continue.

Interviewer: "So you're not too happy then, on what the president of the organization has been saying toward it?"

Aspinall: "Well, what do you think?"

Cut to clip from "The Big Lebowski": "Look, we all know who is at fault here. What the f*** are you talking about?!"

Aspinall was deemed unable to continue by a cageside physician following the eye-poke at UFC 321 and was sent to the hospital in the immediate aftermath of the event. The bout was Aspinall's first since July 2024, and first as an undisputed champion despite holding an interim UFC heavyweight title since late 2023.

White has since confirmed a championship rematch with Gane is likely next, though considering Aspinall's latest update, that rematch is still a ways away from even being a discussion.