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Tom Aspinall reflects on fan backlash to eye poke injuries, says eye surgery worse than vasectomy

Published

3 months ago

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Tom Aspinall reflects on fan backlash to eye poke injuries, says eye surgery worse than vasectomy

Tom Aspinall was in serious pain after multiple eye surgeries — which are worse than any surgery he's ever had.

The UFC heavyweight champion hasn't competed since fighting Ciryl Gane to a no-contest at UFC 321 this past October after the bout was stopped following multiple eye pokes from Gane.

“I've had three [eye] surgeries,†Aspinall said. “I had one on the left and two on the right. By the way, I've had the snip, right? I've had a vasectomy, and I was thinking that has got to be the worst surgery ever. Mate, compared to eye surgery, it is nothing. Honestly.

“It's f*cking horrendous,†Aspinall continues. “So they kept me awake. I lay awake, they put something on to keep your eyeball open… and obviously, they numb it and stuff. They numb your eye. They did drops and then an injection on the side. Mate, they're coming at you with like a scalpel or knife, or whatever it's called and you're just watching them slice your eyeball open. It was horrendous.â€

Aspinall captured the interim heavyweight title with a 69 second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 in November 2023. He went on the defend that title, stopping Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in July 2024 in a minute, and was then promoted to undisputed champ after Jon Jones notified the UFC of his retirement 11 months later.

Following the fight with Gane — who is now the interim heavyweight champ after finishing Alex Pereira at UFC White House — Aspinall faced a heap of backlash from the fanbase for taking an easy way out of the fight. When asked if he was scared he'd never be able to see again, Aspinall responded honestly, and tied in the fan reaction to describe the very rarely talked about difficulties of being a high-level MMA fighter.

“At first, I was super scared about it, to be honest,†Aspinall explained. “Especially like the first two weeks. Yeah, I was really scared about it. …

“This is something that I've learned to understand the hard way: When you're fighting somebody, you're just Saturday night entertainment. That's it. If you're not in that fight, then people are going to root against you, and that's the way it is. It's shit. It's a bad situation. But I can't expect millions of people to care for me personally. They want to see me have a fight with somebody. That's what they paid for. And it's shit, and it's harsh, and it's not very nice, but that's what it is.

“I still get comments like, ‘Oh he f*cking ducked out of the fight, he didn't want to be there' and stuff like that, but a lot of MMA fans have also never had a fight in their life, and I don't expect them to understand what it takes to get to where I've got to. It's just as simple as that, and you don't see many fighters coming out and saying it. It's always people who have never had a fight. If you're going to sit behind your phone and comment on the toughness of a professional MMA fighter, then you don't really know what you're talking about.â€

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MMA

Andre Fili discusses not landing extra shots after epic UFC knockout: ‘I’m a criminal, but I’m not a piece of s***’

Published

8 hours ago

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October 11, 2026

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Andre Fili discusses not landing extra shots after epic UFC knockout: ‘I’m a criminal, but I’m not a piece of s***’

Andre Fili knows where to draw the line.

On Saturday, Fili scored possibly the best knockout of his career, knocking out Kai Kamaka III with a head kick on the main card of UFC Vegas 122. The finish was brutal, putting Kamaka out before he even hit the canvas, but as he rushed forward to finish the fight, Fili pulled up before landing any follow-up shots, realizing Kamaka was unconscious.

At his post-fight press conference afterward, Fili expounded on the moment.

“I say this all the time: I'm a criminal, but I'm not a piece of shit,†Fili said. “I don't litter. I treat people with respect. And when I knock someone out, there's no reason to land that extra shot. He's got kids, he's got a wife, he's got a future outside of fighting. It's just not necessary, man. I hope he's OK. I didn't even really want to watch the replay back.

“Hurting people is part of the sport. I like being good at fighting. I like winning fights. I like getting paid to win fights. I like being on TV. Hurting people is a byproduct of that; it's not a driving force for me. So I'm not gonna land that extra shot.â€

Widely seen as one of the “good guys†of MMA, Fili has been a UFC veteran since 2013, and seemed to be getting emotional during his post-fight scrum. When asked about why, Fili explained.

“I poured everything I am, and everything I have into this performance, and I just really — I'm not scared of anybody in that cage,†Fili said. “Any apprehension or nerves or excitement or butterflies, it's all because I want to perform. I want to make my people proud, I want to make myself proud. I want to perform the way I know I can perform. And when it works out that way, it feels really good.

“And now I'm making enough money to where I can change the trajectory of my entire family. I come from violence and drug abuse and poverty. I live below the poverty line in America, which I know is different from being in some of these other countries, but it's below the poverty line nonetheless, and I'm here to break some generational curses. This shit's hard work.â€

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MMA

Christian Leroy Duncan eyes UFC title shot with Brendan Allen win

Published

10 hours ago

on

October 11, 2026

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Christian Leroy Duncan eyes UFC title shot with Brendan Allen win
Christian
Leroy Duncan believes a win over Brendan
Allen would warrant a shot at
Ultimate Fighting Championship gold or a matchup with a former
titleholder.

Duncan (15-2) is scheduled to headline
UFC Vegas 122 against Allen (27-7) on Saturday at Meta Apex in
Las Vegas. The Englishman has defeated Roman
Dolidze and Jared
Cannonier in his last two outings and hopes a victory over
Allen will earn him one of those opportunities.

Christian Leroy Duncan targets former champion as next step
after Brendan Allen

Duncan is 8-2 in the UFC and has won five straight fights. He
believes an impressive performance against Allen could propel him
past other middleweight contenders or put him one step closer to a
title shot.

‘I don't see why not [a title shot next],†Duncan told MMA
Fighting. “We get a good performance this weekend, I don't see why
not… Brendan Allen being Top 4, it puts us in that title contention
section where we've got Strickland and Imavov who are supposed to
be fighting next. We've got DDP amongst that mix of former
champions. It will be great to then put my hat in at the top level.
This year I fought Roman being a Top 15 fighter, Cannonier being a
Top 10 fighter and now Brendan Allen being a Top 5, so the natural
progression from that would be a former champion.â€

Middleweight champion Sean
Strickland has said compensation remains an obstacle to
finalizing the first title defense of his second reign, with
Nassourdine
Imavov his expected challenger. Former champions Khamzat
Chimaev and Dricus Du
Plessis are also seeking another fight with the 185-pound
titleholder. Chimaev lost the belt to Strickland earlier this year,
while du Plessis holds two wins over the American.

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MMA

Josh Hokit rips Alexander Volkov, teases move to light heavyweight

Published

1 day ago

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October 10, 2026

By

Josh Hokit rips Alexander Volkov, teases move to light heavyweight
Josh
Hokit believes Alexander
Volkov will never get a chance to fight him.

Hokit (10-0) is scheduled to challenge Ciryl Gane
(14-2, one no contest) for the
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title at UFC
334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Volkov has
criticized Hokit since the title fight was announced, and the
American has responded.

Josh Hokit says Alexander Volkov will never get his chance,
mocks heavyweight résumé

Volkov considers Hokit an easy matchup and predicts that Gane will
defeat the unbeaten contender. In response, Hokit compared their
records, noting that he defeated Derrick
Lewis and Curtis
Blaydes, both of whom beat Volkov.

“Drago†has won consecutive decisions over Jailton
Almeida and Waldo
Cortes-Acosta and is scheduled to face Rizvan
Kuniev at
UFC 333 on Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi. Hokit added that Blaydes
defeated both Almeida and Kuniev. “The Incredible Hok†claims he
will already be dominating the light heavyweight division by the
time Volkov earns a fight with him.

“Volkov saying he'd beat me easy is funny… He'll never get the
chance,†Hokit wrote on X. “I just beat Blaydes and Lewis. Volkov
lost to BOTH. Now he's fighting Kuniev (who Blaydes beat), after
squeaking by Almeida (who Blaydes dominated). I’m going to kill
Ciryl, who he lost to twice. Zero finishes, pure boring. By the
time you earn a fight with me, I'll already be dominating LH.â€

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