Tom Aspinall says double eye surgery was probably the scariest experience of his life.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was poked in both of his eyes by Ciryl Gane in their heavyweight title fight at UFC 321 this past October. The fight was waved off in Round 1 after Aspinall was rendered unable to continue.
Advertisement
The UFC heavyweight champion was accused by many for over embellishing the extent of the damage, but Aspinall finally provided the details of his gory procedure, where he said his vision was completely gone in one eye for about four weeks.
“I’ve had three surgeries. I had one on the left and two on the right,” Aspinall said on Great Company with Jamie Laing. “By the way, I’ve had the snip, right? I’ve had a vasectomy, and I was thinking, like, that has got to be the worst surgery ever. Compared to eye surgery, it’s nothing. It’s f*cking horrendous, honestly.
“They kept me awake. They put something on to keep your eyeball open – obviously they numb it and stuff. They did like drops and then they did an injection on the side. Mate, they’re coming at you with a scalpel or knife, and you’re just watching them slice your eyeball open. It was horrendous.”
While Aspinall recovered, Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) finished Alex Pereira by Round 2 TKO to claim the interim heavyweight title at UFC Freedom 250 in June. Gane is expected to run things back with Aspinall later in the year.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Tom Aspinall opens up on ‘horrendous’ surgeries after Ciryl Gane eye pokes
