Tom Aspinall has announced he is vacating the UFC heavyweight title, as he struggles to get clearance to fight again amid an ongoing eye injury.
Monday morning then brought a statement from Aspinall, who said: "Ongoing eye complications mean I cannot get cleared to fight right now. I’ve had multiple surgeries, accidents and infections, and done everything possible to get back to competing.
"I know there has been questions about why I have been quiet. I have always followed the advice of the UFC and focused on my recovery while we’ve tried to make this happen. I have now made the decision to vacate the Heavyweight Title.
"I asked the UFC to allow me to make this statement because I don’t want to hold the Heavyweight division up. I know what it’s like to have your career put on hold and I want the other fighters to have the opportunity to compete for the title.
"The UFC and Hunter [Campbell, UFC CBO] have been informed every step of the way and have seen the tests, procedures and medical information relating to my eyes. We have worked closely with different doctors and specialists to try and make my return happen but, unfortunately, it is simply not possible right now.
“I am absolutely gutted. I have chased this dream since I was 10 years old.”
Aspinall added: "I am not done. Stepping away from the title is not stepping away from the sport or the dream. I will continue doing everything I can to get healthy, get cleared and get back to competing as soon as possible.
"What makes this particularly difficult is that many of the complications I’m dealing with are a result of fouls that changed the course of my career. Fighters rely on officials to enforce the rules and protect us in those moments, and it’s hard to still be dealing with the consequences today.
What’s really gonna suck is when Jon wakes up today and starts running his dicksucker on Twitter about how he was right that Tom was here today, gone tomorrow.
Gane is now undisputed champ, so basically Jon is still the champ. I’ll laugh my balls off if they bring him back to beat Gane’s ass in 2 minutes again and the HW division gets fucked even longer lol
I feel like we need at least another 2-3 really good, young contenders to call the division great again or to get really excited about it, but it should be somewhat decent for the next year IF these guys are active. Everyone should be fighting as often as Hokit and Pereira. This 1x per year bullshit has to go. Even 2x is a little lackluster. Waldo gets my respect purely for being an active HW.
As soon as I saw that eye poke, I knew he was in for some real trouble outside of the cage, and I’m not surprised he’s struggled to get back. Gane was knuckle deep. The nastiest eye poke I’ve ever seen.
Agreed, but most people seem to slow down their activity once they get into the UFC barring a few exceptions. Hopefully Gable stays active through next year.
The UFC has way too many fucking fighters. Numbered cards should be STACKED with top 10 fighters fighting top 10 fighters, not the bullshit we’ve been getting.
THREE. FIGHTS. PER YEAR. MINIMUM.
Rant aside, it’s crazy the last time the HW belt changed hands in the octagon was Miocic/Ngannou in March 2021. Almost 5.5 years ago. Terrible.
Edit: And I think only ONE HW title defense in that time? (Jones/Miocic in 2024) Correct me if wrong.
I’ve said for years (probably sometime around the start of the Colby Covington hold out) that if you haven’t fought 2 times in the past year, you don’t get a title shot.
Problem solved.
There’s probably a couple cut outs for injuries on champions (like Pantoja), but as an overall policy it would bring up the quality of cards tremendously to make these dudes who are ranked in the top 10 fight.
This feels like another HW dark ages time period similar to the belt being inactive/tied up while Cain was either injured or fighting Dos Santos 600 times in a row…
