‘Aspinall will return from injury more dangerous than ever’

UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall will return from his eye injury the “most dangerous” fighter he has ever been, training partner Modestas Bukauskas believes.

Aspinall said earlier this month he was set to have surgery after sustaining a “nightmare” injury following an accidental eye poke from Ciryl Gane in October.

The eye poke, which caused Aspinall’s first undisputed title defence to end in a no-contest, left the 32-year-old with “persistent” double vision.

Some pundits, such as UFC commentator Joe Rogan, have questioned whether Aspinall will ever compete again after the injury, but training partner Bukauskus has no doubts.

“When he comes back expect to see the most dangerous Tom Aspinall you’ve ever seen,” Bukauskus told BBC Sport.

“He’s an incredible athlete, an incredible person and this is only going to make him that much sharper and better. Heavyweight division, watch out.”

Lithuanian-Briton Bukauskas lost against Nikita Krylov at UFC 324 last week and could not train with Aspinall in preparation for the fight because of the eye injury.

“Tom’s dealing with that really horrible eye injury. I feel really bad for him because he’s looking at potentially getting surgery and his eyes still aren’t 100%,” Bukauskus added.

Aspinall was making the first defence of his belt against Frenchman Gane after being upgraded from interim champion following the retirement of former title holder Jon Jones.

In the post-fight news conference after the eye poke, UFC president Dana White said “only Tom knows what happened” and he “didn’t want to continue” – comments which he later said had been “taken out of context”.

After UFC 324 last week, White was unenthusiastic when updating journalists further on Aspinall’s condition.

“Don’t let me talk about Tom Aspinall’s eye,” said White.

“Apparently he’s going in for a second surgery, or he’s just had it. And by surgery, I mean injections. I have no idea.”

Aspinall replied on his YouTube channel the following day, adding: “I didn’t even fight last night. I’m catching strays in my living room on a Sunday morning.”