UFC champion Tom Aspinall said he requires more tests to determine the extent of the damage caused to his eye during his bout with Ciryl Gane.
Aspinall was on the receiving end of an unintentional eye poke from Gane on Saturday as the two fought for Aspinall's heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi.
He was taken to a local hospital for tests after the fight had been declared a no-contest by referee Jason Herzog with only 25 seconds of the first round remaining.
The decision elicited a furious reaction from the 13,000 crowd at Etihad Arena, prompting Aspinall to question why he was being booed.
"I just got poked knuckle deep in the eyeball," he said in his post-fight interview. "Why are you booing? I can't see. I can hardly open my eye. Look! It was a double eye poke," he said when the replays were shown on the big screen.
It is not the first time Aspinall, whose pro MMA record stands at 15 wins, three losses and now one no-contest, has been injured in the octagon.
In 2022, Aspinall blew out his knee seconds into a fight with Curtis Blaydes, with the official decision a TKO win for the American.
It would be 12 months before the Englishman would return to action.
Aspinall, who was defending his title for the first time since being anointed the champion in June following Jon Jones' retirement, said the injury he suffered against Gane was worse than the one he suffered against Blaydes.
"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."
Aspinall's father, Andy, meanwhile, said: "It's a horrendous thing to think as a parent. I know what it's like these days with people saying what they want.
"But when it's your son, and they could lose an eye, and their health, and they've got children to look after. Something needs doing about it. It's horrendous to look at [the eye poke incident]."
Frenchman Gane insisted the poke was not intentional, and they are far from uncommon in mixed martial arts.
UFC president Dana White was asked in the post-fight press conference if the incident would prompt the world's lead mixed martial arts organisation to look at the design of fighters' gloves, in which the fingers are exposed.
White dismissed the idea, saying the incident was “one of those things – what are you gonna do?”
He confirmed that a rematch between Aspinall and Gane would take place once the former was healthy again.
