Bisping questions Aspinall's vague eye injury timeline six months after UFC 321

Michael Bisping has publicly questioned the lack of transparency surrounding Tom Aspinall’s recovery from eye injuries sustained at UFC 321, calling the heavyweight champion’s extended and unexplained absence “fcking weird” on his Believe You Me* podcast alongside fellow retired UFC fighter Paul Felder.

Aspinall has been out of action since October, when a Ciryl Gane eye poke during their heavyweight title clash resulted in a no-contest ruling. More than six months on, the champion has offered little detail beyond a recent statement that he needs “another couple of months” before he can return to camp, and no title defence has been scheduled.

Bisping drew on his own experience to frame his scepticism. In 2013, the former UFC middleweight champion underwent a scleral buckle procedure — a major operation to repair a detached retina — yet still returned to compete against Tim Kennedy by April 2014, a shorter window than Aspinall’s current absence. “I had that surgery, recovered, came back and had a fight in a shorter amount of time than what it’s taken this whole eye poke saga,” Bisping said.

What bothers Bisping most is the absence of any real explanation from Aspinall, who regularly posts content to his YouTube channel. “He’s been very vague with the details,” Bisping said. “If I wasn’t cleared, because he’s got a YouTube channel, he posts content all the time, you’d talk about it. The procedures that he had, the operations, whatever they were. I don’t know what he had, but he hasn’t talked about that.”

Bisping was careful to stop short of outright accusation. “I don’t say it stinks,” he added. “As a guy, I know Tom. We used to have a close relationship, we don’t talk these days. He was a great guy, but maybe, I don’t know, you look between the lines, there’s something f*cking weird going on.”

A separate layer of complexity surrounds Aspinall’s recent signing with Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn, who has been publicly feuding with UFC CEO Dana White over the past year. White’s newly launched Zuffa Boxing promotion has moved into territory Hearn considers his own, and Hearn’s decision to take Aspinall on as a management client was widely read as a direct provocation. Bisping expressed concern that Aspinall may be caught in the crossfire of a promoter dispute, with Hearn effectively daring White to release the champion from his UFC contract.