UFC champ Tom Aspinall reveals major setback in double eye surgery recovery

TOM ASPINALL has revealed there has been a setback in his return to the octagon. The Atherton assassin hasn’t set foot inside the cage since his ill-fated first defence of the UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane last October. Aspinall’s maiden outing as king of the heavyweights ended in a No Contest due to a horrific DOUBLE EYE POKE from the Frenchman, which he was unable to recover from, in the dying embers of the first round. The 32-year-old underwent DOUBLE SURGERY in February and was, just earlier this month, on course to return to full training. But that timeline, as well as the one for his eagerly anticipated cage comeback, has shifted following a recent scan. During an appearance on the Fight Your Corner podcast, he said: “I’ve just had my recent scan. “I thought I was going to get cleared, actually, to spar and fight straight away, but they’ve actually given me another couple of months. “I’m just waiting for the—because the cells in your eyes take a little bit longer to heal. “So, as soon as they’re healed, I should be good to go.” At best, Aspinall will be back in the cage at the end of the year to face the winner of next month’s White House war for the interim title fight between Gane and Alex Pereira. SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS Gane, who flared his fingers numerous times during his third failed bid to win undisputed heavyweight gold, vehemently denied intentionally poking Aspinall in the eyes. But the champ still firmly believes the Parisian puncher knew exactly what he was doing. In an exclusive interview with SunSport, he said: “I don’t think Ciryl is a bad guy or anything like that. “But, I can’t comprehend how you can poke someone like three times in four minutes and it not be on purpose. “I can only speak from my own perspective, right? When I’m fighting, I know exactly what I’m doing. “And nothing really happens on accident. So I don’t know how you can accidentally do something multiple times. “But that doesn’t mean that I’m saying he’s a bad guy or whatever. “I just don’t know how it’s physically possible to not do it on purpose.”