Tom Aspinall is finally getting back in the Octagon after his first defence as undisputed UFC heavyweight champion was confirmed.
Aspinall had been waiting to unify the heavyweight belts in a mouth-watering clash against Jon Jones, only for the pound-for-pound great to stall over booking the fight for close to two years.
That prolonged saga then came to a deflating end when Jones’ retirement was announced by Dana White following UFC Baku.
The development officially made Aspinall the king of heavyweight and allowed him to finally move on from Jones, turning focus to the rest of the division.
His first challenge will come on 25 October against French star Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi. Gane was once also dubbed as heavyweight’s “next big thing” before being made quick work of in Jones’ first fight in the division back in March 2023.
Gane has since underwhelmed in the cage despite winning his last two fights, with his most recent victory over Alexander Volkov surrounded by contention.
Aspinall, meanwhile, has looked near-unstoppable during his supersonic rise to the top, knocking out highly-rated Sergei Pavlovich to win interim gold before avenging his freak injury loss to Curtis Blaydes – his only title defence while he played the waiting game for Jones.
Aspinall is closing in on one year since his last fight but is now intent on becoming one of the most active champions in the UFC, looking to steamroll the heavyweight division after years of being held hostage by Jones.
As the bout is happening in Abu Dhabi, fans in the UK will not have to stay up until the early hours of Sunday morning to watch Aspinall’s return, with the main event set to kick off on the Saturday evening.
The announcement comes as part of a triple-reveal of title fights by the UFC.
Merab Dvalishvili will go to battle with Cory Sandhagen over the Georgian’s bantamweight title at UFC 320 on 4 October, while Alex Pereira will look to regain his light heavyweight strap from Magomed Ankalaev.
Khalil Rountree will also fight Jiri Prochazka at the same event – a battle of top contenders at 205lbs.
