Fans have been seeing a lot of Tom Aspinall lately, just not where they want to. Instead of stepping into the cage, the 33-year-old UFC heavyweight champion has stayed highly active on YouTube, posting updates on his eye health and teasing potential comeback plans. In his latest video, Aspinall opened up about his diet. But fans are growing frustrated with his inactivity. 

“At the minute, because I’m not training for a fight, I’ll do like four-ish thousand,” Aspinall told YouTuber Joe Fazer about how many calories he consumes in a day. “When I’m training for a fight, like hard, I’ll do like six.”

He also explained that the main reason he consumes more calories during training camps is to meet the energy demands of his workouts. While Aspinall said he tries to keep his diet mostly clean and healthy, he admitted that he occasionally indulges in unhealthy food because, in his words, “you’ve got to enjoy your life as well.” 

The UFC heavyweight added that he is not focused on building an extreme physique and is instead satisfied with simply staying healthy overall. This comes months after he fought Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in October. Gane accidentally poked the Brit in the eye multiple times, rendering him unable to continue the fight. As a result, the bout was declared a no-contest. 

He has since had surgeries in both of his eyes. A return date for Aspinall hasn’t been revealed, but speculations are that the winner of Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane on June 14 at the White House South Lawn may end up facing Aspinall for the UFC heavyweight title down the line. But when that may happen is still up in the air. 

In his most recent update regarding a potential return to action on May 3, Tom Aspinall revealed on his YouTube channel that doctors would soon clear him for full-contact training. Judging by his latest video, in which he trained alongside YouTuber Joe Fazer, the English heavyweight appears to have largely recovered from surgery. 

In any case, when a clip of Aspinall’s diet plan made it onto the social media platform X, fans didn’t seem too enthusiastic about it. 

Tom Aspinall asked to switch trainers

When the ‘Honey Badger’ uploaded the video to YouTube, he may not have thought it would receive this reception. One user mocked Aspinall’s diet and posted: “So he basically always eats 4,000 cause this p—y ain’t fighting.”

As of the time of writing, Aspinall hasn’t fought in 219 days. But that’s nothing compared to the 454 days between his fights against Curtis Blaydes and Ciryl Gane. 

Another user decided to take a more sarcastic approach.

“Rookie, I eat 6,000 calories for breakfast, then when [I] prepare for my all-age white BJJ belt comps I eat 12,000 🥱,” the user commented.

High-intensity athletes typically consume anywhere between 3,000 and 8,000 calories per day during training, depending on their size, sport, and workload. In that context, 12,000 calories is an extremely excessive figure and far beyond what most elite athletes would realistically consume regularly. 

Meanwhile, this fan suggested Aspinall needs to switch trainers because they felt 4,000 calories during the off-season isn’t enough.

“He needs a better trainer. I can guarantee 4k calories is not even close to enough for a professional athlete,” the fan wrote.

Aspinall’s primary and head coach is his father, Andy Aspinall. It’s highly unlikely that he would change things up. 

The next user, however, didn’t care how many calories Tom Aspinall consumed in a day. “Who cares he quit with [an] eye poke and got surgeries to avoid Gane 😂,” the user claimed.

Eye pokes can have a lasting impact on a fighter’s career. It is understandable why any fighter would hesitate to continue competing when their vision is impaired through no fault of their own, especially when the risk could jeopardize their long-term health and career. 

Someone else mocked Aspinall for consuming too few calories: “My 15-year-old son eats over 5,000 calories per day.”

From the looks of things, fans are tired of watching Tom Aspinall in YouTube videos. His return to the cage isn’t happening anytime soon, but it would be interesting to see who he fights next.