Michael Bisping and Paul Felder question Tom Aspinall‘s layoff after eye surgery.
Heavyweight champion Aspinall underwent double eye surgery in February after he was poked in the eyes in his title defense against Ciryl Gane this past October at UFC 321. The fight was ruled a no contest after Aspinall was rendered unable to continue.
As a result, the promotion matched up Alex Pereira and Gane for the interim heavyweight title in the UFC Freedom 250 co-headliner on June 14, with the winner expected to unify the belt with Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC).
However, with Aspinall not giving a clear timeline for his return, Felder wonders if he’s delaying the process purposefully.
“It feels like he got – and again, I haven’t talked to Tom; I don’t know this – but it just seems like that whole situation with Ciryl Gane got him real bitter, got him real angry,” Felder said on the “Believe You Me Podcast.” “It feels like his head got real big real quick, and now he just thinks he’s above and beyond fighting in the UFC. It’s like dude, you haven’t fought really much in three years.”
Bisping can draw from personal experience after losing sight in his right eye and having to wear a prosthetic one while competing. The former UFC middleweight champion says even he was able to return to fighting sooner than Aspinall.
“I’ve got to choose my words carefully here, but he just said he’s still not cleared to fight,” Bisping said of Aspinall. “But he’s been very vague with the details. … I had a surgery. It was a very, very serious surgery. It’s called scleral buckle – look it up online. It’s gross, what they do to the eyeball.
“I don’t know what he had, but he hasn’t talked about that. I had that surgery, recovered, came back and had a fight in a shorter amount of time than what it’s taking this whole eye poke saga. I don’t know. You look between the lines, there’s something f*cking weird going on. That’s what it looks like. That’s what it sounds like.”
