Aspinall Diagnosed With Bilateral Brown’s Syndrome

UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall has been diagnosed with Bilateral Brown’s syndrome, a condition in both eyes which may require surgery, after his no-contest with Ciryl Gane. 

Aspinall’s first defense as the heavyweight champ ended in a no-contest at UFC 321 last month after he could not continue following the first-round due to an accidental double eye-poke from Gane. The champ received a mixed reaction, with some questioning whether he was looking for a way out. Jon Jones responded by trolling Tom, as he posted an image of a duck with an eye-patch on his Instagram profile. This was to mock those who suggested that he was ducking Tom.

Brown’s syndrome is where the tendon behind the eye restricts its movement, making it difficult or impossible for the eye to move upward, particularly when looking inward. He is also suffering from “persistent” double vision. More than a month after the incident, Aspinall is still suffering from symptoms and has not yet been cleared by medical professionals to return to fighting. 

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“We’ve got to see how it goes over the next few weeks. Obviously that’s down to the specialists and stuff, but I’m not in the gym training at the moment. I’m not doing anything MMA wise at the moment. I’m just following the doctor’s orders right now and seeing what happens with the health. I’m obviously very keen, very keen to get back and beat this guy up. But I’ve got to be 100% right. So whenever the eye’s good to go, that’s when I’ll do it,” Aspinall said

“[He has] not yet medically cleared for combat activity. Depending on clinical progression, targeted periocular [surrounding the eyeball] steroid injections or surgical intervention to address persistent motility [movement] impairment may be required if symptoms fail to resolve,” Medical report