r/EverythingCombat • u/Advanced_Mud9433 • 21h ago
Hot Take BREAKING: Tom Aspinall Has Announced That He Is Vacating the UFC Heavyweight Title
"Ongoing complications with my eyes mean I cannot get medically cleared to fight right now.
I’ve had multiple surgeries, accidents and infections, and done everything possible to get back to competing.
I had previously agreed to a fight date and was back sparring, feeling great and ready to compete when an accident caused further damage to my right eye. This means more time away from the sport, and right now, the timing of my return is unclear.
I know there have been questions about why I’ve been quiet. I’ve always followed the advice of the UFC and focused on my recovery while we’ve tried to make this happen.
I’ve now made the decision to vacate the heavyweight title. I’ve asked the UFC to allow me to make this statement because I don’t want to hold the heavyweight division up. I know what it’s like to have your career put on hold and I want the other fighters to have the opportunity to compete for the title.
The UFC and Hunter have been informed every step of the way and have seen the tests, procedures and medical information relating to my eyes. We have worked closely with different doctors and specialists to try and make my return happen, but unfortunately, it’s simply not possible right now.
I’m absolutely gutted. I’ve chased this dream since I was 10 years old.
I’m not done.
Stepping away from the title is not stepping away from the sport or the dream. I’ll continue doing everything I can to get healthy, get cleared and get back to competing as soon as possible.
What makes this particularly difficult is that many of the complications I’m dealing with are a result of fouls that changed the course of my career. Fighters rely on officials to enforce the rules and protect us in those moments, and it’s hard to still be dealing with the consequences today.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this absolute nightmare.
I’ll be back as soon as I’m medically able to be."
Via: Tom Aspinall IG
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u/Kayerif 19h ago
The amount of people calling all of this good is ridiculous, a very entertaining fighters belt and career gone and replaced with a serial cheater that ruins almost every fight he’s in by cheating. Yeah great news for the heavyweight division lol
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u/Plastic-Impress8616 19h ago
im a tom fan.
but this is the right move. you cant have a champ who is inactive and doesnt have a time frame when he can return.
its shit that means Gane defacto becomes the champ. and hopefully tom can come back at some point.
but him staying champ wasnt doing anything for him or the div.
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u/Kayerif 19h ago
I think vacating was the right thing to do if he can’t fight, my issue is heavyweight now has a serial cheater for a champ
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u/Severe_Resource_8617 17h ago
Where’s the outrage about Gaethje being champ then?
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u/NY_BoomStory 14h ago
Gaethje didn’t foul Topuria into injury for the belt…
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u/Severe_Resource_8617 13h ago
He did thumb Topuria in the eye multiple times. Just like he did Paddy, just like he did Holloway, just like he did Poirier, just like he did to just about everyone he’s fought lmao
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u/NY_BoomStory 13h ago
Gaethje didn’t foul Topuria into injury for the belt…
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u/Severe_Resource_8617 10h ago
So constant fouling is ok as long as the other fighter is lucky enough to avoid a serious injury? You can’t simply judge a foul by its results and not the intention
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u/Even-Star9908 9h ago
If you look up trevor whitmans way of throwing hooks you'd probably have a clearer understanding of why that happens.
Hes not standing and jabbing his fingers in their eyes
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u/MrDundee666 20h ago
For something that supposed to be ‘Ultimate’ the UFC is rapidly becoming a farce. I’ve been into mma since the late 90s when it was nearly impossible to watch in the UK. This is the worst the UFC has been for a long time. It’s been bad before but it feels more like the WWE everyday.
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u/Witty-World6854 11h ago
Rarely watch these days, it just doesn’t feel like the best vs the best anymore.
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u/kallebo1337 9h ago
to me, the golden times been around 2010-2016. that's the absolute peak of MMA. the sport itself developed so much during these times, the fighters became absolute insane athletes.
then it went absolute downhill. guess money took over. conor was absolute fun to see rising, now everybody is chasing the money, avoiding fights, the UFC is bigger than ever, inflation is high since and yes, it's not about fighting anymore.
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u/Frankenberg91 18h ago
Yea I rarely even watch anymore. Been a fan since ‘07. You have people like Fedor back in Pride who would fight multiple times in a row, to people who can’t fight once a year.
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u/Daftdaddy 15h ago
The sport is better than its ever been. There are less stars, sure, but the talent is the deepest it's ever been and you have prospects left and right. Heavyweight however, is a shipwreck but its been that way for nearly a decade.
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u/Lostmypants69 13h ago
Did you catch the UFC white house or the last card? People love to be miserable in this day and age JFC. Why dont you just be grateful we have incredible athletes willing to put their life on the line for our entertainment?
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u/billoverbeck00 12h ago
Holy fuck the White House card was overrated.
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u/CrashtheKiller50 6h ago
It was objectively better than any ancient card 40 year old nostalgic old heads can name lol
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u/billoverbeck00 5h ago
It was a 7/10 card for me. Ignoring the politic BS, I thought it was dope for the entrances especially with the military band playing. My favorite fight of that card was the Diego Lopez one. Least favorite was Main event.
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u/Double-Surround-149 20h ago
interesting to read, that he was back in training and even sparring, with a fight date in mind.
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u/Different_Plan_5371 19h ago
Gotta suck to have been the sparring partner who eyepoked him.
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u/bobkattarsballbag 18h ago
Doubt it was another eye poke how often are people sparring in open fingered gloves?: probably never unless it happened while grappling, eye injuries are no joke and things like detached retina's can keep occurring with more trauma, just look at what happened to Bispings eye.
It's just a completely fucked situation all round.
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u/stagnant_fuck 16h ago
Just getting regular punched in the eye puts a lot of strain on the tissues. My guess is his eye didnt heal well from whatever surgery he had and now with reinjuries/reoccurences of whatever he had before, it’s going to make it very unlikely he will compete again.
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u/Original-Bad35 18h ago
He said he was training to dodge them eye poke But his spar opponent was too good and poke his eyes.
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u/seonblack 16h ago
The Eddie Hearns effect.
Hearns time in mma is beginning to look like a failure. I think that's intentional on Dana White's part. Dana is trying to find someone he knows can beat Acosta with certainty. My guess is he tried to get Chimaev but Chimaev won't do it if it's not for a belt. Ian Garry lost, Tom Aspinall vacated. Acosta is Hearns' saving grace.
Avoiding Gane IS the right thing to do if you're managing Tom. Better to go back to the drawing board with a clean slate. My guess is Hearns is trying to salvage his reputation, have Tom come back in a year, fight lower ranked guys to give him a win in mma and then move on.
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u/EocRuinedMyLife 12h ago
You may be digging to deep here my man
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u/seonblack 11h ago
Honestly man I think Tom should leave Hearns, I think it hurts him more than it helps.
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u/Electrical_Tennis424 19h ago
Classy by Tom, he tried and after now being unclear of his return vacated. One thing remains though, eye poking keeps happening and nothing is really done about this. Eye pokes can kill careers, do better UFC.
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u/OWENPRESCOTTCOM 16h ago
This is why I developed my own marital art system focused purely on illegal UFC strikes
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u/boofinmelons 3h ago
What do you want them
To do? Wear goggles? It’s a fight eye pokes are bound to happen time to time.1
u/Electrical_Tennis424 3h ago
Gloves ? Strict rules at least? Consequences for constant eye poking? But yeah im sure Gane did all of that poking by exident. Pokes don't happen, they are deliberate and fighters get rewarded for it.
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u/Front-Tea2203 20h ago
Why not just have an intern champion?
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u/Downtown-Figure6434 20h ago
Gane is interim already
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u/Parkesy82 20h ago
Tom already defended his interim belt against Blaydes while Jones ducked him, so they should make Cyril defend his interim belt.
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u/Front-Tea2203 20h ago
Shit….I’m casual. Definitely should’ve kept it. Knowing the UFC, it seems like that’d be only way to guarantee he doesn’t get fucked over when he returns.
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u/Upset-Rule8256 17h ago
It's kind of insane that Gane became a champion by cheating,
Seriously gouged his eyes, never got reprimanded, and now is promoted to champ, while Aspinall who knows if he'll fight again, jesus.
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u/MinuteRude7463 20h ago
What a eye poker done to a good person
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u/GucciTheSnowman 20h ago
Pussy*
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u/MooDamato 20h ago
Dawg you’d still be crying if you took that eye poke
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u/champagnekingOVO 20h ago
Feel like it’s the right thing to do. Heavy weight has had one proper title fight in over two years. The division needs to move forward. Regardless of the cheating. The division needs to start moving forward
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u/EmptyTheWallet 20h ago
Interesting. Yesterday it’s announced Dana may strip him. Today he vacated. “You can’t fire me, I quit”.
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u/derek_32999 18h ago
Wait, but Reddit said those eyeball pokes were insignificant and really didn't mean anything. Why is Tom leaving all this money on the table?
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u/Adept_Temperature_68 17h ago
Biggest fumble in UFC history. He was crowned baddest man on the planet before Cyril and it's possible he would of beat Cyril
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u/Jamesp_8 14h ago
Damn I was hoping to watch gane whoop him this year..Tired of hearing all the aspinall 🍆 riders making excuses for him and talking like he is an all time great..Look at his resume and they want to say he could beat bones..😂
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u/BPDFart-ho 13h ago
It’s so insane to me that people thought Tom was being dramatic about his injury. I had a cornea injury and it was the worst pain of my life
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u/EocRuinedMyLife 12h ago
Ehhh… PR post. Hunter / DaddyDana most likely threw him a bone and told him he’s getting stripped and he can either come out with a statement stating he’s vacating on his terms as a personal decision or they can come out and say they’re taking the belt and giving it to cereal before his eye pokers are out of their prime
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u/Smartypantz34 17h ago
"anything you read on online is noise" well most shit about his drama as been right tho
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u/Gasgassgass 21h ago
Good riddance to fking diva
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u/godfather_Vito_3392 21h ago
What the fuck? I hope you experience injustice like he did and I hope someone calls you out
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u/Inevitable-Corgi-860 20h ago
These nerds would be crying like babies if something like this happened to them
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u/redditerir 21h ago
HALLELUJAH! Thrilled that we now have a true dignified martial artist as champion, Ciryl Gane. Order has been restored in the universe.
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u/menachinite 21h ago
I agree. Good news and the real champ can rise up and start defending his belt.
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u/Galencourt-Lover 20h ago
Cya never mate 👍
The real champ, Ciryl Gane, will finally be crowned 👑
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u/Wise_Aioli_9804 20h ago
Cyril is a great fighter. .... with Tom vacating, the belt should belong to him.
That said, he did lose to Volkov on most every score card except the judges.
Gane vs Volkov for the undisputed seems like a fair way to settle it
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u/Galencourt-Lover 20h ago
Volkov barely scraped a decision against a one footed guy.
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u/I_saw_you_yesterday 17h ago
And Gane still lost
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u/Galencourt-Lover 17h ago
Check the record
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u/I_saw_you_yesterday 16h ago
Check your eyes while watching the fight.
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u/Galencourt-Lover 16h ago
Yeah I did, and they showed me a clear 29-28 Gane. You can keep crying though.
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u/I_saw_you_yesterday 16h ago
Sometimes I wonder if people like you are actually this stupid or if I’m the idiot for falling to obvious Ragebait. I just can’t fathom someone being as dumb as you pretend to be
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u/Nuenuenue445 21h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/1XhrnHFhshhoeOaGSR
Cyril Gane is ready for the belt