Media Tom Aspinall's eyes one day post surgery

[cmw43]

Hmmm... well still I think they should vacate belt and have Pereira fight someone first half of year, then Aspinall fights winner. That is way too long. People were giving Jones for taking that time off end of his career just recently.

He'll be out about a year overall, Khamzats gonna be out a similar amount of time between fights and he's not even injured, should they strip him too?

 

[Lee Danger]

if only people could stop and think for a moment: we are witnessing a guy undergoing a surgery (as light as it is) for something that he LITERALLY has never been able to name.
at no point in these months he was able to just say something like "hey guys, i got a nerve/tendon/muscle issue, a cornea issue etc etc".
The problem for whom he got lasik is still unknown and an for a top athlete that's supposedly injured it's something that honestly i don't remember ever happening in any sport.

Furthermore, i've never met a doctor who suggested a procedure without knowing what problem it was supposed to solve.

 

[Tweak896]

He'll be out about a year overall, Khamzats gonna be out a similar amount of time between fights and he's not even injured, should they strip him too?

Yes. I want the UFC to clamp down hard like they did with LHW. I don't care if it's Tom or Khamzat. Even Topuria. All divisions this should be the normal way. Only if they are a decorated champ like Volk/Usman level should they get the full year.

HW has been fucked because of Jones. And as much as people wanted him out they should want Tom out. What makes it worse is it's back to back and the last legit HW championship fight was Jones/Gane 2023. So yes especially the HW division. It's not the end of the world Tom fights for the belt when he returns like Jiri or Hill.

 

[CdaMMA]

Do people still think he's faking it?

 

[markg171]

Do people still think he's faking it?

Getting laser eye surgery to correct the fact you've been wearing corrective lens like glasses and contacts for years has nothing to do with Tom's supposed Brown's Syndrome.

This added MORE fuel to the fire he's a grifting liar, not LESS.

 

[CdaMMA]

Getting laser eye surgery to correct the fact you've been wearing corrective lens like glasses and contacts for years has nothing to do with Tom's supposed Brown's Syndrome.

This added MORE fuel to the fire he's a grifting liar, not LESS.

Fair enough, didn't look too much into the surgery he just had

 

[markg171]

Fair enough, didn't look too much into the surgery he just had

I'm happy he got the laser eye surgery as either he's been fighting with contacts in or fighting not being able to see 20/20, both of which present their own problems, so that's an improvement for him as a fighter. But he really should've been honest about the two things being unrelated beyond the generic "improving my eyesight" aspect.

I'm actually more shocked that the clinic publicly put out their statement implying they corrected Tom's official medical diagnosis of Brown's Syndrome with laser eye surgery. That's the kind of misleading medical malpractice that could lead to fines and regulatory action if anybody in the UK, or an MMA journalist did their jobs, and put two and two together and bothered to ask them how that's possible. It's an obvious over the top ad they jumped the gun on instead of just generically thanking Tom for the opportunity to help improve his eyesight with their services.

 

[Söze Aldo]

How far will Tom take this? If the UFC strips him, would he actually consider suing Gane for the impact to his livelihood?

 

[mmasask]

Trying way too hard to save face... unbelievable lengths which these people go. There's no way this is the "baddest man on the planet"

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

You mean a gigantic "wall of text" explaining the specifics of the injury and why it actually makes sense? And not seeing a laser machine in jumping to some weird conclusion and making up conspiracy theories?

Sorry bruv, but you gave reading material to a guy who can't read. There weren't many other results you were gonna get.

I don't think there's any worth in not having Mark on ignore.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I just think besides rematches Alex has cleared the LHW division except for Ulberg, which might be a waste of time or not many care. He's getting up there in age and HW could prolong his career. Now without Almeida there is basically no wrestlers. Dana just can't announce anything from questions, so he's waiting for a signed fight and confirmation.

I mean that could be a possibility but normally if someone is moving up Dana announces it even if there's no fight booked yet. Like he announced Topuria vacated and was moving up despite us not knowing who he would fight until some months after.

I think Dana and the UFC don't want Alex at HW until the division somewhat gets back on track cause who knows when Tom is returning and Ciryl vs Tom 2 has to happen before the division can move forward so Dana and the UFC very most likely don't want one of their biggest draws having one fight this year and to be sitting on an interim belt in the worst male division in the UFC until 2027 when they could have him at 205 fighting 3'times.


I agree Alex needs to move up and the HW division really needs him there but him moving up doesn't benefit the UFC currently and that's what matters to them most, not to mention the HW division is basically an afterthought to them at this point. It sucks but this is kinda just where we're at right now..

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Yes. I want the UFC to clamp down hard like they did with LHW.

I think Ulberg-Jiri not being signed is why they Jiri hasn't been pushed to vacate or be stripped yet. He's been out nearly a month longer than Tom, and has a known recovery time taking him to mid 2026, and he's been repeatedly clear about his intentions to go to HW, so I don't know why the UFC is bothering to keep the power in their back pocket otherwise..

I'd guess that greed for holding all the cards means they're probably not pitching it as a vacant title fight to Carlos and Jiri, which I think would ensure they sign if they did. It's a fight between #2 and #3 on the books, so they'd have no problem turning around and saying, "This will be for the belt, Alex is going to HW" if that was the case, but I think Alex floating around the HW division as a big "when" question mark is only going to increase scrutiny around the Tom situation.

So it's almost like Alex's own greater case of inactivity ironically can't be answered while the HW inactivity is happening, just because of the greed for negotiating power the UFC tries to monopolize at all times.

Frankly, if the UFC did address LHW like they should, I'd have less of an issue about people calling for Tom to be stripped. I mean, there's still Khamzat who has been out since August, but at least we know his expected recovery time's end date was going to be around next month.

And as much as people wanted him out they should want Tom out.

It's not even close to equal. That can ONLY be argued true because of

What makes it worse is it's back to back

but then, still a large majority of that is not on Tom, so we're back to, no, people shouldn't want Tom out as much

 

[Staph infection]

if only people could stop and think for a moment: we are witnessing a guy undergoing a surgery (as light as it is) for something that he LITERALLY has never been able to name.
at no point in these months he was able to just say something like "hey guys, i got a nerve/tendon/muscle issue, a cornea issue etc etc".
The problem for whom he got lasik is still unknown and an for a top athlete that's supposedly injured it's something that honestly i don't remember ever happening in any sport.

Furthermore, i've never met a doctor who suggested a procedure without knowing what problem it was supposed to solve.

If you don't be specific on what was done, you are not lying.

 

[markg171]

Sorry bruv, but you gave reading material to a guy who can't read. There weren't many other results you were gonna get.

I don't think there's any worth in not having Mark on ignore.

You have me on ignore but comment on everything I do.

Flattering, if slightly off putting

 

[Gamer2k4]

Why are people surprised by this? Honestly, what WOULD you expect eyes to look like post-surgery?

 

[Tweak896]

I mean that could be a possibility but normally if someone is moving up Dana announces it even if there's no fight booked yet. Like he announced Topuria vacated and was moving up despite us not knowing who he would fight until some months after.

I think Dana and the UFC don't want Alex at HW until the division somewhat gets back on track cause who knows when Tom is returning and Ciryl vs Tom 2 has to happen before the division can move forward so Dana and the UFC very most likely don't want one of their biggest draws having one fight this year and to be sitting on an interim belt in the worst male division in the UFC until 2027 when they could have him at 205 fighting 3'times.


I agree Alex needs to move up and the HW division really needs him there but him moving up doesn't benefit the UFC currently and that's what matters to them most, not to mention the HW division is basically an afterthought to them at this point. It sucks but this is kinda just where we're at right now..

That's a good point. The UFC seems to carefully time every big move they do to get the outcomes they want. Keeping plenty of fighters at division against their wills. HW division hasn't had a real championship fight since 2023 with Jones/Gane, so I consider it too broken to even put together at this point. They probably have plans that don't include Alex right now. Bet they want to get Aspinall/Gane out first while it's hot.

I think Ulberg-Jiri not being signed is why they Jiri hasn't been pushed to vacate or be stripped yet. He's been out nearly a month longer than Tom, and has a known recovery time taking him to mid 2026, and he's been repeatedly clear about his intentions to go to HW, so I don't know why the UFC is bothering to keep the power in their back pocket otherwise..I'd guess that greed for holding all the cards means they're probably not pitching it as a vacant title fight to Carlos and Jiri, which I think would ensure they sign if they did. It's a fight between #2 and #3 on the books, so they'd have no problem turning around and saying, "This will be for the belt, Alex is going to HW" if that was the case, but I think Alex floating around the HW division as a big "when" question mark is only going to increase scrutiny around the Tom situation.

Seems like a no brainer to most people. Jiri/Ulberg for vacant LHW title and Alex to HW. It's still in the time where Alex could sign to fight Ulberg or move to HW, so UFC is probably bidding their time until they fill the whitehouse card. The Gane/Aspinall NC probably through a wrench in the plans for Alex's direct move up to a title shot.

So it's almost like Alex's own greater case of inactivity ironically can't be answered while the HW inactivity is happening, just because of the greed for negotiating power the UFC tries to monopolize at all times.

Frankly, if the UFC did address LHW like they should, I'd have less of an issue about people calling for Tom to be stripped. I mean, there's still Khamzat who has been out since August, but at least we know his expected recovery time's end date was going to be around next month.

Considering they denied Islam to fight Topuria just so they could milk 2 stars over 1, I won't put anything past them. Right now, there is 1 championship fight signed, that's just Van vs Taira. Maybe they are actually putting all title fights for whitehouse card. Personally I wish UFC was like a computer algorithm that stripped the belt every 6 months without a fight, like it was a burned in rule.

It's not even close to equal. That can ONLY be argued true because of

but then, still a large majority of that is not on Tom, so we're back to, no, people shouldn't want Tom out as much

I dunno, I thought Jiri and Hill doing it helped the LHW division when it was in trouble. Tom has had so much shitty luck: his knee injury, Jones time wasting, then the eye poke. I feel for the guy I do, it's a shitty string of events.

But I think I've been pretty patient waiting since 2023 for an actual HW championship fight since Jones/Gane. Tom was promoted to champ to speed up the division, but the fact is he has had serious surgeries and isn't well to compete. He'll return immediately to a titleshot when ready, so atleast in my mind, I'd rather see Pereira fight for the vacant until then.

 

[Superzorro]

Can you point me to your posts clamoring for vacated belts in the cases of Chimaev, Pereira, Topuria, Dern, and Harrison? Since they've all been out longer, some not even injured?

Just wanna make sure we're being consistent and not full of shit

They all completed their fights though. If the fight doesn’t come to a conclusion, it doesn’t count.

 

[goOb]

Damn could you imagine.

Sadly, yes…