Tom Aspinall has provided a major update on his eye injury, which caused his first undisputed heavyweight title defence to end in a no-contest at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Aspinall was put against Ciryl Gane in his first title defence, where he hoped to secure a winning start and revitalise the division, which had been inactive for some time.
Aspinall suffered an unintentional eye poke from Gane with 25 seconds left in the first round of the match, and the bout was stopped.
Aspinall was taken to a local hospital when the fight was declared a no-contest by referee Jason Herzog.
Love sports updates on the go? Click here to follow us on WhatsApp Channel
Aspinall decided not to continue the fight, saying he could hardly open his eye. The result elicited furious reaction from the crowd at Etihad Arena, and the Briton had to explain.
“Guys, I just got poked knuckle deep in the eye ball, why are you booing?” a devastated Aspinall said. responding to the noise of the fans.
“This is bulls***, the fight was just getting going. I can hardly open my eye.”
Tom Aspinall said the injury against Gane was scarier than the one he suffered against Curtis Blaydes.
He added that he will have to wait for the results of some more tests to determine the extent of the damage.
“It was way scarier than what I did to my knee,” Aspinall said in a video posted on his official YouTube channel.
“Because with my knee, I knew it was going to be alright. I still don’t know how this is going to be.
“We’re just waiting for further results. We’ve got to do more tests in the UK. Flying back today [Sunday], and we’ll go from there. I’m not sure when I’ll be ready to let everyone know what’s going on.
“Thank you for all the support. See you soon.”
READ: From Kenya to Pakistan cricket: Who really is Mike Hesson?
