Miocic’s club may refer slightly to Tom Aspinall’s eye injury.
Aspinall dropped his UFC heavyweight title after his recovery from multiple eye sores took longer than expected. Aspinall was stabbed in both eyes by Cyril Gane during his title fight at UFC 321 last October, and the Brit is still experiencing vision problems.
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Former UFC heavyweight champion Miocic, who suffered a bad eye injury in his title fight against Daniel Cormier at UFC 241, praised Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) for allowing the division to move on without him.
“Looking at Tommy’s situation, I just think, ‘It’s good to do that,'” Miocic said of Aspinall in an interview with Casino.org. “It was probably difficult for him to leave his title the way he did. I give him kudos as I know it’s hard for him. It was over the world, and everything changed. … He got an eye poke. I was there.
“I tore my retina before, and it’s tough. I just want to give him a lot of credit for that. It happened to me in my second fight with DC (Cormier). I accidentally poked my eye, and after the fight, I was kind of like, ‘Man, my eyes are unlucky looking and feeling weird.’
Aspinall initially said he was upset with UFC CEO Dana White touting his injury, but Miocic cautioned him not to get too emotional.
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“The UFC is never happy with someone unless you make them a ton of money, forget about them,” Miocic said. “I think it’s the right thing to do if you know it’s going to happen this time. It’s been a while, but I’ve been within a year. If it was longer, I’d probably do the same thing he did and take a break.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Stipe Miocic credits Tom Aspinall with vacating the UFC title amid eye injuries