Tom Aspinall ‘very disappointed’ with Dana White as he faces surgery in both eyes from UFC 321 title fight

Tom Aspinall was left ‘very disappointed’ with his boss Dana White after comments made on his last fight.

Aspinall‘s UFC 321 heavyweight title defence against Ciryl Gane in October ended in a no-contest after the Frenchman poked the champion in both eyes.

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AFP

After the dramatic conclusion to the Abu Dhabi event, UFC CEO White told members of the media that he would look to book a rematch between the two heavyweights as soon as possible.

However, fans took note of one comment made by the UFC head honcho, as the 56-year-old plainly stated, ‘Tom didn’t want to continue in the fight.’

Weeks later, White appeared on the Jim Rome show and claimed Aspinall had suffered ‘no damage to the eye.’

However, as things turned out, that proved to be entirely untrue.

Aspinall revealed he had been diagnosed with bilateral traumatic Brown’s syndrome in an update on his eye health on Sunday.

The 32-year-old has now expressed how he felt upon hearing his boss essentially say there was nothing wrong with him.

Tom Aspinall: I was very disappointed with Dana White

“Slightly disappointing,” Aspinall said on The Ariel Helwani Show when he was first asked about White’s words.

“Because he hadn’t spoken to me – he was already giving updates on my health, and he had no idea what had gone on.

“Disappointing. Disappointing.”

Aspinall was then asked to expand on his feelings, especially when he was in the hospital in Abu Dhabi after his fight with Gane.

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“I was very disappointed, yeah. Very disappointed… It definitely didn’t help the cause,” Aspinall added, before revealing he hasn’t spoken to White since.

“Me and Dana don’t really speak like that anyway, ever…” he continued.

“I’ve said hello here and there, but I don’t really have a relationship with Dana. 

“I speak to Hunter [Campbell]. I don’t know what to say, that’s the way it is…

“[White] started giving updates that there was nothing wrong with my eye, when that isn’t the case… I’ve done a lot for the UFC, so, yeah, disappointing.”

Aspinall had posted medical notes from the National Health Service (NHS) this past weekend that stated he ‘must abstain’ from any combat-related activity until his eyes had recovered.

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Speaking to Helwani, the UFC heavyweight champion admitted that he wasn’t sure when that time would come, before detailing some painful recovery methods he may have to endure.

Doctors discussing surgery on both of Aspinall’s eyes

“The eyes are not back to full health yet, so we’re still waiting,” he said.

“We put the doctors’ reports out recently… The left eye looked worse, but the right eye was the one that had the most damage — I was like a human bowling ball.

“The one that looked deeper actually did the least damage… They don’t really know when I’m going to be back at the moment.

“I’m still not even cleared to train or do anything.

“They’re talking about doing surgery on both eyes, they’re talking about injections – I have to get an injection in the eyeball soon.

“So I’m not looking forward to that. I don’t really know [when I’ll be back] at this point.”

Aspinall said the damage is predominantly to the back of his eye.

So doctors are waiting for as long as possible before deciding to operate or not, because the process of the surgery is ‘intricate and risky.’

The champion’s current situation may prompt the UFC brass to introduce another interim title at heavyweight.

Before he was elevated to undisputed status, Aspinall became the longest-reigning interim champion in UFC history.

The Englishman had been linked to fighting former UFC heavyweight Jon Jones for months, but the latter retired, meaning he was elevated to full champion.

Jones has since declared that he wishes to pursue a comeback fight at UFC White House against Alex Pereira.