Tom Aspinall is back in the gym and moving again, nearly half a year after his fight with Ciryl Gane ended when an accidental eye poke stopped the bout in October. The heavyweight posted new footage from training and said he has now been cleared for pads, bags and shadowboxing, though doctors have still not signed off on head-on-head work.
“I’m itching to get back into live rounds,” Aspinall said, adding that he has to “respect the healing process” after the injury and surgery that followed. The latest update matters because inside sources say UFC matchmakers are targeting a late-summer return, with a U.S. pay-per-view in August among the possible landing spots for his comeback.
The injury left Aspinall with significant corneal damage and forced him into surgery and rehab after the October stoppage. He has spent the recovery period training in a pure boxing environment under the Matchroom Boxing umbrella, and has also been seen at boxing cards in Altrincham. That change of scenery has given him a different rhythm while he waits for the green light to fully return to mixed martial arts.
“Getting out of the MMA gym and into a pure boxing environment has sharpened my hands,” Aspinall said. “Plus, it’s good for the head—mentally, I feel calmer.” He said the work has helped, but he is still not close to forcing the issue. “But don’t get me wrong, I’m dying to get the big gloves back on and smash pads with my team,” he said.
There is also a clear limit to where the comeback stands. Aspinall said he is not cleared for full-contact sparring, and he is not treating the next step as something to rush. “I don’t need to rush into the deep end,” he said. “You’ve got to be 100 percent when you step out there.”
For now, the focus is on controlled work and patience, with Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov among the names floated as possible opponents if the timeline holds. Aspinall said he will keep building gradually until doctors approve the next stage. “I’ll bide my time, trust the process, and then go from light drills to full gas when the docs give me the nod,” he said.
