To be the man, you gotta beat the man.
Unless the man is too scared to fight you and retires from competition, which is why Tom Aspinall is defending the heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane instead of
Jon Jones. Sadly, we can’t say for certain if Aspinall is better than Jones, but he may go on to dominate the division much like “Bones” did throughout his career.
That journey continues against “Bon Gamin” atop the UFC 321 fight card on Sat. (Oct. 25) in Abu Dhabi.
“I’m a fan of Ciryl Gane,” UFC middleweight Michael Page told TNT Sports. “I just feel like Tom Aspinall is the next generation of the same thing we saw the likes of Jon Jones doing in terms of the dominant fashion that he took over his division. I feel like the same thing is going to happen with Tom Aspinall.”
“That style at heavyweight is unseen,” Page continued. “Ciryl Gane has a little bit of a bounce to him, as well. I just don’t think he’s got the same snap and power that Tom Aspinall has, as well as the ground game, although you probably won’t see it in this fight. I feel like he could get a knockout in this fight.”
Aspinall (15-3) is 8-1 under the UFC banner with his only loss coming by way of knee injury at UFC London back in summer 2022. As for Gane (13-2), three years older than Aspinall at 35, he already had two chances to capture the 265-pound crown but came up short in separate title fights against Jones and Francis Ngannou.
”Bon Gamin” remains a sizable underdog for this weekend’s title fight.
