Tom Aspinall vacates UFC heavyweight title

Aspinall steps away from the title amid ongoing eye issues

Tom Aspinall has finally decided to step down and relinquish his UFC heavyweight title, as he needs to continue recovering from his eye injury for the time being.

Tom Aspinall suffered severe injuries to both eyes last October during his title defense against Ciryl Gane and has since undergone several surgeries. He had actually hoped to return this year to get the division back on track. Now, however, he’s taking a break to fully recover. He said:

“I have now made the decision to vacate the heavyweight title. I 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"

In June, Ciryl Gane defeated Alex Pereira and became the interim heavyweight champion. Now he will likely be the one to be promoted to undisputed champion. Tom Aspinall, however, insists that he will make a comeback and reclaim the title.

“I am not done. Stepping away from the title is not stepping away from the sport or the dream. I will continue doing everything I can to get healthy, get cleared and get back to competing as soon as possible"

he said.

However, his decision to relinquish the title comes as quite a surprise. He himself had always been determined to keep the title, and suddenly he’s giving it up. This comes at a time when more and more people have been voicing criticism of the division and demanding that the UFC strip Tom Aspinall of the title to revitalize the division. Perhaps he could no longer withstand the criticism and therefore decided to take this step. It’s currently unclear whether he’ll get an immediate rematch for the title. But maybe he’ll take on a fight first to get back into the swing of things and get back into top shape. What do you think, was the decision driven more by the criticism or actually by his own volition?

I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this. I feel like it came a bit out of the blue because I definitely didn't expect it. On the one hand, I think it's good because Tom Aspinall is making it possible for title fights to happen again. However, I'm a little skeptical as to whether it was really his decision or if it was more a result of the criticism.