Tomorrow at UFC 321, the heavyweight title is on the line in the main event. Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall (15-3) will be making his first title defense since being named undisputed champion as he takes on former interim champion Ciryl Gane (13-2).
These two have been circling each other for years and finally, we are seeing them fight for the heavyweight title. Starting with the champion, he’s just happy to be back in action. Aspinall won the interim title by knocking out Sergei Pavlovich in November 2023.
He then defended the interim title against Curtis Blaydes over a year ago by knocking him out in the first round. Last November, Jon Jones stopped Stipe Miocic to defend the heavyweight title. Throughout the end of last year and the first part of 2025, the UFC tried to make the fight with Aspinall and Jones.
However, Jones retired (for a brief period) and Aspinall was named undisputed champion. With him being named champion, he needed a top contender to defend his belt against and Ciryl Gane got the call.
Gane is coming off a controversial win over Alexander Volkov where many think that he lost. Nevertheless, the judges gave the fight to Gane and it was his second straight win. Gane has only lost two fights in his career and both were in undisputed heavyweight title fights. One against Jon Jones and the other being against Francis Ngannou.
UFC 321 Prediction
I’m incredibly fascinated to watch these two strike against each other. We know that Aspinall has very good boxing and he has insane power. However, he does have some flaws in his defense and a sniper like Ciryl Gane can take advantage of that at UFC 321.
Aspinall has a tendency to leave his chin up and we’ve seen guys like Curtis Blaydes land clean strikes. Gane can certainly land clean strikes and his unique striking style could give Aspinall problems if the fight is more a point-style fight.
However, I don’t think we are going to see a ton of striking. I’m expecting Aspinall to take the path of least resistance and that path leads him to taking Gane down. After a brief period, perhaps the first half of the first round at UFC 321, I expect Aspinall to take down Ciryl Gane.
Once it’s there, I think it’s just a matter of time. I ultimately see Aspinall finding his way to a submission win in this one in the first couple of rounds.
Prediction: Tom Aspinall by Submission
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