Tom Aspinall Calls Eye Surgery 'Horrendous,' Worse Than Vasectomy

Tom Aspinall was in serious pain after multiple eye surgeries, describing them as worse than any surgery he’s ever had. The UFC heavyweight champion hasn’t competed since his bout against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 this past October was stopped and ruled a no-contest following multiple eye pokes from Gane.

Speaking on Great Company With Jamie Lang, Aspinall detailed the excruciating pain he experienced during and after his surgeries. "I’ve had three [eye] surgeries," Aspinall stated. "I had one on the left and two on the right. By the way, I’ve had the snip, right? I’ve had a vasectomy, and I was thinking that has got to be the worst surgery ever. Mate, compared to eye surgery, it is nothing. Honestly."

He continued, "It’s f*cking horrendous. So they kept me awake. I lay awake, they put something on to keep your eyeball open… and obviously, they numb it and stuff. They numb your eye. They did drops and then an injection on the side. Mate, they’re coming at you with like a scalpel or knife, or whatever it’s called and you’re just watching them slice your eyeball open. It was horrendous."

Aspinall originally captured the interim heavyweight title with a 69-second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 in November 2023. He successfully defended that title, stopping Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in July 2024 in just one minute. He was subsequently promoted to undisputed champion after Jon Jones announced his retirement from the UFC 11 months later.

Following the no-contest against Gane—who has since become the interim heavyweight champion after defeating Alex Pereira at UFC White House—Aspinall faced significant backlash from fans. Many accused him of taking an easy way out of the fight. When asked if he was ever scared he would lose his sight, Aspinall offered a candid response, linking the fan reaction to the often-unseen difficulties faced by high-level MMA fighters.

"At first, I was super scared about it, to be honest," Aspinall explained. "Especially like the first two weeks. Yeah, I was really scared about it. … This is something that I’ve learned to understand the hard way: When you’re fighting somebody, you’re just Saturday night entertainment. That’s it. If you’re not in that fight, then people are going to root against you, and that’s the way it is. It’s shit. It’s a bad situation. But I can’t expect millions of people to care for me personally. They want to see me have a fight with somebody. That’s what they paid for. And it’s shit, and it’s harsh, and it’s not very nice, but that’s what it is."

He added, "I still get comments like, ‘Oh he f*cking ducked out of the fight, he didn’t want to be there’ and stuff like that, but a lot of MMA fans have also never had a fight in their life, and I don’t expect them to understand what it takes to get to where I’ve got to. It’s just as simple as that, and you don’t see many fighters coming out and saying it. It’s always people who have never had a fight. If you’re going to sit behind your phone and comment on the toughness of a professional MMA fighter, then you don’t really know what you’re talking about."