The announcement of Jon Jones’ retirement after a title reign of 785 days shook up the heavyweight division, promoting interim holder Tom Aspinall to champion.
Despite never dethroning Jones to earn the belt, Aspinall believes Saturday night is the chance to establish himself at the top: “I feel like I’m the best, but I’ve still got a lot to prove yet so I’m looking to do that.”
It’ll be 454 days since Aspinall avenged his singular UFC defeat, after suffering a freak non-contact injury vs. Curtis Blaydes, knocking out the American within 60 seconds to retain his interim heavyweight title.
In front of a celebrating home crowd at UFC 304 in Manchester, an emotional Aspinall said: “Sometimes normal people can do extraordinary things” and that’s exactly what the Brit prepares to continue proving this weekend.
Following 14 months outside of the Octagon, Aspinall puts his belt on the line for the first time against number one contender Ciryl Gane at UFC 321.
Gane enters the bout after a decision victory in December 2024 over Alexander Volkov, who also features on the main card to face off against Brazilian Jailton Almeida.
UFC veteran Volkov (38-11-0) is also a former opponent of Aspinall’s, after being submitted in the first round. In his last five victories, Aspinall has defeated five of the top 10 heavyweights in a combined time of 9 minutes and 37 seconds, and holds the the shortest average fight time in UFC history (2 minutes, 2 seconds).
During fight week in Abu Dhabi, Aspinall also revealed that a rematch against Volkov could be on the cards: “I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to do winners vs. winner – me [or] Gane vs. Volkov [or] Almeida.”
“The winner of us against the winner of them, I think will be next for the heavyweight title.”
by @ChloBoyne
