Aspinall ‘still can’t see’ three days after eye poke

Tom Aspinall still has no vision in his right eye three days after sustaining an injury during his title defence at UFC 321, says the heavyweight champion’s father.

Cyril Gane accidentally poked the Briton in both eyes while attempting a punch late in the first round of Saturday’s main event in Abu Dhabi.

Aspinall was unable to continue and retained his belt as the fight was waved off as a no contest.

The 32-year-old was taken to hospital following the fight, and after flying back to England visited an eye specialist in Manchester on Monday.

Andy Aspinall said in a video posted to his son’s YouTube channel: «His right eye – he still can’t see anything. He said it’s just grey.

«His left eye’s about 50%, so one’s really blurry and one’s still not working.»

The fighter will have additional tests this week and a CT scan «to see if the bones are all right, but they think the bones are all right».

Andy Aspinall added that eye pokes «happen a lot in MMA» and «‘something needs to be done in the sport to stop that happening».

«It’s bad,» he said. «He could have lost his sight. He’s still not got his sight in one eye, so we don’t know. We’re still waiting. Time is a healer, hopefully.»

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 they reverted to the original style, which had not had a major redesign since becoming mandatory in 1997.

When asked about eye pokes in Saturday’s post-fight news conference, UFC president Dana White said: «No matter what you do with the glove, they’re going to happen.»