Tom Aspinall has DOUBLE eye surgery as rare condition leaves UFC career in limbo

The Atherton assassin required surgery on his eyes as a result of the horror double poke he received from Ciryl Gane in his maiden title defence last October, which ended in a first-round no contest.

The pokes were so bad that Aspinall was diagnosed with the extremely rareBrown’s syndrome.

Aspinall’s eyes were left with limited upward and inward movement, as well as intermittent bouts of double vision.

And he hopes to regain his normal vision following a double surgery at an Optegra clinic.

Aspinall shared an X post from the ophthalmic clinic with his followers on Tuesday night.

The post included photos of the 32-year-old going under the knife and him posing with his surgeon.

The post read: “After his highly publicised eye poke, Optegra’s experts are proud to have supported UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall.

“In recent months, we’ve worked closely with him on his recovery.

“With an op on both eyes, we continue the journey to get Tom’s vision back to fighting fitness.”

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Aspinall, who was on the sidelines for 14 months waiting for a historic clash with Jon Jones before his ill-fated clash with Gane, has yet to publicly comment on his surgery.

He now faces the very real possibility of another lengthy stint on the sidelines as both his optics recover.

And he plans to take as much time as he needs to make a full recovery.

He toldOne On One MMA earlier this year: “I’m ready to get back, but myhealthhas gotta be right first.

“I ain’t gonna do anything compromised. I’m not gonna let my ego take over.

“Everything’s got to be right.

I’m ready to get back, but myhealthhas gotta be right first. I ain’t gonna do anything compromised.”

Tom Aspinall

“So when the time is right, however that looks, whenever that is, that’s the plan.”

Aspinall raged at Frenchman Gane in the immediate aftermath of their Abu Dhabi dust-up for not heeding referee Jason Herzog’s repeated warnings about his outstretched fingers.

UFC supremo Dana White has already confirmed the pair will run things back once Aspinall is fighting fit again.

And he’s plans to get his hands on the Parisian puncher as soon as possible once he’s been given the all-clear.

He said: “The plan is to go back and beat the living daylights out of Ciryl Gane.

“But right now the short-term plan is to get back to where I should be, get back in the gym.”