As MMA fans pointed fingers at Tom Aspinall for quitting at UFC 321, a former champion stepped in as a star witness. Alexander Volkanovski, citing his own harrowing experience, is now calling out the fans who dismissed Aspinall’s career-threatening eye injury.

After Ciryl Gane accidentally poked Aspinall’s eyes, the match had to be called off after the Englishman could not continue. Since then, the Englishman has undergone surgeries for both eyes and is recovering, while there is no timeline specified regarding his return to the Octagon. MMA fans kept mocking him and Gane following the match as the heavyweight division continues to struggle in Aspinall’s absence.

Alexander Volknovski supports Tom Aspinall as fans take shots at the heavyweight

“I think everyone’s been pretty harsh on him,” said Volkanovski on his YouTube channel. “Eye stuff can really mess with you quite a bit. A lot of people expect your eye to be falling out. Like you know, simple retina tears and stuff can be a big problem.

My first fight with Diego Lopez. I had a few things going on, and to be quite honest. I still have things playing up in my eye because of it. I’m lucky enough that it’s not too serious. But I mean, I’ve still got. Things that happen in my eye. I still see flashes on the sides of my vision. You could be one hit away from losing your vision.”

To back Aspinall, ‘The Great’ cited him as an example. Notably, eye pokes have become a controversial topic in today’s MMA scenario, as they have become a frequent problem. Apart from Aspinall, Henry Cejudo faced a similar situation when his match against Song Yadong had to be stopped after three rounds, due to an eye poke.

“You can have issues, and you could be a hit away from losing vision from something serious happening,” Volkanovski added. “We’re gonna have everyone’s gonna have their takes outside of that, but real doctors that have a close look at it and that want to protect someone’s eye because they don’t want them to lose vision forever.

They’re probably going to have real protocols and be like. No, you’re not fighting till we get this properly sorted like. That’s a very, very reasonable situation, and most likely the situation that’s happening.”

Now, after surgeries, Aspinall is being advised to rest until the full recovery takes place. Due to that, even his return timeline is unclear at this point. As Aspinall undergoes the rehabilitation phase, the fans continue to troll the UFC heavyweight champion for faking the injury. But why is it so? According to a former UFC star, the reason is Dana White.

Brendan Schaub accuses Dana White of fueling Tom Aspinall’s injury trolling

Following the UFC 321 bout, many, including Dana White, believed Aspinall could have continued. But according to former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub, those statements are the reasons why the Brit has to undergo intense scrutiny over his injury.

“Here is the problem. What makes Dana great is that he shoots from the hip, and he’s not so politically correct. He just says what he says,” Schaub said in a video posted on X, “And right after the fight, you can see how Dana can say that. But the issue with that is that it gives energy and perspective to the UFC trolls, and that just ignites the fire on top.”

Notably, even Aspinall was quite disappointed with White’s comments after UFC 321. But then again, the head honcho addressed it and noted he hadn’t said anything negative that would warrant such a reaction.

Amid all this, while Aspinall rests, rising UFC heavyweight contenders are calling out for an interim championship fight. However, the promotion is yet to have an official announcement regarding it.

That said, it will be interesting to see how things unfold next for Aspinall. On that note, when does the Brit return to the octagon? Let us know in the comments below!