Tom Aspinall undoubtedly became one of the most popular fighters on the UFC roster after he won an interim title on short notice, defended that belt without blinking while Jon Jones waited for an aging Stipe Miocic and put on a series of blistering performances where he laid waste to every heavyweight in his path.
But his first title defense as undisputed champion could not have gone much worse. A competitive opening round against Ciryl Gane ended after Aspinall suffered a brutal eye poke and with his vision compromised, he couldn’t continue and the fight was stopped.
Despite documenting the severity of the injury, which is going to require surgery, Aspinall has somehow become public enemy No. 1 while fending off accusations that he used the eye poke as an excuse not to continue a fight he was potentially losing. Aspinall’s longtime friend and teammate Modestas Bukauskas, who next competes at UFC 324, admits the whole ordeal really bothered him, especially knowing all the ways the British heavyweight has stepped up whenever needed.
“When you see that stuff online, I just felt so bad for Tom,” Bukauskas told MMA Fighting. “He’s been a consummate company man. He took a fight on what two weeks’ notice against [Sergei] Pavlovich. He’s been waiting on the sidelines for [Jon] Jones. He’s been doing everything for this company and he’s put on some amazing performances. He’s been finishing people within the first round. It’s like people are quick to forget all the things he’s done and because he got eye poked, it’s like have any of you been poked like that in the eye?
“I’ve been poked in the eye pretty bad as well and my vision was blurry for ages. I’m talking it was a whole year one time. I kept on getting poked constantly in the eye and especially with that one, like everyone was saying, it was pretty much knuckle deep in the eye. I feel like it’s very unfair of people to jump to hate on him because he couldn’t continue. What if that happened to you? I don’t think you’d be fighting either.”
From spending so much time with Aspinall in the gym, Bukauskas obviously understands the UFC heavyweight champion’s demeanor, especially when it comes to defending his title.
He knows without a doubt that Aspinall is willing to fight through almost anything but competing with impaired vision against a lethal striker like Gane just makes no sense.
“Since he’s the champion of the world, his decision, he needs to be able to go out there and he’s fighting one of the other best guys in the world,” Bukauskas said. “Ciryl Gane’s very fast, uses his range, obviously he’s a tricky kickboxer. You can’t go out there and fight when you’re compromised, especially your sight, which is the main thing you need against a guy like that.
“I thought it was absolutely horrible the backlash that he got. But on the same side, I feel like it’s giving him another log to his fire when he does come back.”
Since the injury occurred, Aspinall revealed that he’s undergoing surgery to repair the damage done but he hasn’t been able to set a timeline on when he might be able to compete again.
Bukauskas didn’t need that proof to know Aspinall’s eye was in bad shape after that fight but he can’t understand how anyone would doubt the injury at this point.
“Dude has to get surgery,” Bukauskas said. “He has to get injections and all sorts of other things because his eye is still not better. I know one of my friends got a retinal detachment. Eyes are a very tricky thing. To recover from that and to recovery fully from that is going to take a really long time.”
If there’s an upside to this entire ordeal, Bukauskas expects Aspinall to use the injury and the backlash he’s faced as motivation to not only return to action but show up better than ever before.
Aspinall may have lost some fair-weather fans along the way but he’s going to take all that negativity and spit it back out when he returns to defend his title next.
“I know Tom’s just going to be using this as fuel,” Bukauskas said. “Because he’s seen how quick people are jumping all over him in terms of supporting him and now jumping all over him and creating negative stuff about him, which is absolutely horrible. But it kind of gives him a chip on his shoulder.
“So I feel for any other heavyweight to have to face him when he comes back because he’s going to come back with another level of intensity and a lot more to prove and it’s going to make him even more dangerous. I think this is just part of his story that’s just going to make him come out with even better performances and be even more dangerous. I feel for him that he has to go through this but at the same time, I know it’s only going to make him even more dangerous when he comes back.”
Bukauskas knows from personal experience that Aspinall is a ferocious competitor on his worst day but having his integrity questions is only going to make him that much more determined to destroy whoever’s in his path when he comes back.
“You don’t want to rattle the bull,” Bukauskas said about Aspinall. “Whenever he comes back, expect him to come out all guns blazing and even be [sharper]. I even notice when you’re sparring him sometimes because obviously he’s an extremely lovely guy and we’re all trying to take care of each other but we spar with a little bit of intensity sometimes and you can just see it in his eyes.
“There’s a switch and you know he could put your lights out. To have that amplified, to think about that being amplified now, that is going to be one scary dude.”
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