UFC 321: Tom Aspinall full media day interview
UFC 321 headliner Tom Aspinall spoke to MMA Junkie and reporters at media day for his heavyweight title defense vs. Ciryl Gane.
ABU DHABI – The UFC heavyweight title picture is a bit of a mess at the moment. From months of Jon Jones’ refusal to unify the heavyweight title with Tom Aspinall, to Jones retiring, then seemingly un-retiring, and Alex Pereira’s push for a move up a weight class – there’s a lot going on.
Yet, despite all the turmoil, Aspinall, who defends his UFC heavyweight title this Saturday against Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 321, sees things clearly. Fighting on the same card, Alexander Volkov and Jailton Almeida clash in a key heavyweight bout. Aspinall expects the winner of that bout, not Jones or Pereira, to get the next crack at the belt.
“I don’t know, whatever the UFC wants to do, (but) it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to do winner vs. winner of me vs Gane, and Volkov vs. Almeida,” Aspinall told reporters at the UFC 321 media day on Wednesday. “Not like a tag team match. The winner of us vs. the winner of them, that’s what I think it’s going to be next for the heavyweight title.”
UFC 321 (ESPN+ pay-per-view, FX/Disney+/ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Etihad Arena. Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC), who hasn’t fought since defending his interim belt in July 2024, can’t wait to resume his fighting career after being put on hold by Jones’ indecision to fight him.
Aspinall plans on becoming the most successful UFC heavyweight champion, and that starts by beating Gane (13-2 MMA, 102- UFC). He does acknowledge the difficulty of maintaining a long reign at heavyweight.
“As far as being a long-reigning heavyweight champion and stuff like that, we’ll just see how it goes, but I am confident I am the best fighter in the division, but it’s heavyweight MMA,” Aspinall said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
