Tom Aspinall is on a mission to eradicate Ciryl Gane from the UFC title picture in their clash at UFC 321.
Dana White and the UFC announced the fight news on Tuesday, a welcome update since Jon Jones’ retirement in June. Now the heavyweight title drought is seemingly over, fans can anticipate one of the most stylistically interesting matchups in the division.
It isn’t new for Gane, however, who gets his third shot at the belt, since losing to Francis Ngannou and Jones in his first two chances at undisputed gold.
Per Haljestam-Imagn Images
In an update on his YouTube channel, Aspinall emphasized that he and his team were preparing to snub Gane from the title picture entirely. After multiple alleged ducking accusations, perhaps going 0-3 in title shots will finally remove him from the pool.
“This is Ciryl’s third title shot, so we are gonna try and get rid of Ciryl Gane from the title picture for good,” Aspinall remarked.” . . . I wanna give him his third title shot loss and get him out of there.”
It doesn’t look like Aspinall will fight again this year, but with a victory, the timing could be right for two fights in 2026. This would be the first time the heavyweight belt has been on the line more than once in a year since 2018.
He’ll have to get past Gane first, a notoriously slippy MMA striker. A loss would be devastating for the British champion, who was champing at the bit for a shot at Jones since 2023. No doubt ‘Bones’ would add salt to the wound of a defeat after all this time…
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