Tom Aspinall has been in possession of a UFC title for nearly two full years, has been healthy and training, and has wanted to be an active champion, yet it has been more than 450 days since he last competed.
Fight fans can breathe a sigh of relief because Aspinall is finally set to return to action this weekend in the main event of UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi, where he defends the heavyweight championship against Ciryl Gane.
The 32-year-old standout talent from England was robbed of a huge chunk of his prime fighting years during the second half of 2024 and most of 2025 as UFC brass attempted to set up what would have been a blockbuster title unification bout between Aspinall and former champion Jon Jones.
Despite many months of rumours, speculation and even outright guarantees, a Jones vs. Aspinall matchup never materialized, with Jones announcing his retirement in the summer after reportedly turning down a large sum of money to face Aspinall.
UFC president Dana White made an out-of-the-blue and unceremonious announcement following a Fight Night event in Azerbaijan in June that “Jon Jones called us last night and retired,” which signified Aspinall’s official reign as undisputed heavyweight champ had begun. Before that, Aspinall was an interim champion.
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Tom Aspinall returns to defend the heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in Abu Dhabi. Watch UFC 321 on Saturday, Oct. 25, with prelim coverage beginning noon ET / 9 a.m. PT, and pay-per-view main card starting at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT.
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Aspinall is 15-3 in MMA and has a 100 per cent finishing rate with his wins composed of a dozen KO/TKOs and three submissions. All but one of his wins have come in the opening round — with the outlier ending just a minute into the second round — and he has the shortest average fight time in UFC history with his nine UFC bouts averaging merely 2:02 in duration.
The champ has 100 per cent takedown accuracy and defence. He lands an average of 8.07 significant strikes per minute, which ranks third all-time in the organization, and his 5.18 striking differential rate is the best in UFC history.
Aspinall was submitted in his fourth pro bout as a 22-year-old in 2015 on the English regional scene, but his other two losses have unofficial asterisks beside them. He was disqualified in 2016 for a downward elbow in his sixth pro bout and in 2022 he blew out his knee in a fluke injury 15 seconds into a UFC Fight Night main event against Curtis Blaydes — a loss he later avenged with a 60-second technical knockout at UFC 304 in England last summer.
Since his knee injury, in addition to that win over Blaydes, he also has a 73-second TKO win over Marcin Tybura and a 69-second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich to win an interim title at UFC 295 in November 2023.
In the challenger’s corner, this will be the fourth time Gane has competed for a UFC title.
The 35-year-old former kickboxer from France had a 10-0 start to his mixed martial arts career and won an interim UFC heavyweight title in 2021, when he beat Derrick Lewis at UFC 265. Gane is only 3-2 since that win, though.
He lost to Francis Ngannou in their 2022 unification bout and there’s no denying Gane laid an egg against Jones at UFC 285 in March 2023 when Jones needed only two minutes to submit Gane to win the title that Ngannou was stripped of due to a contract dispute.
There have been seven heavyweight title fights in the UFC since Ngannou won the belt 4.5 years ago, however, the UFC 321 main event will be the first undisputed heavyweight title fight since Ngannou beat Gane by unanimous decision at UFC 270 in January 2022.
Now, one can certainly argue that the fact Ngannou never lost his title and remains the sport’s lineal heavyweight champ to date means the gold belt on the line in weekend’s headliner is actually a disputed title, officially, it’s for the undisputed UFC championship.
Since losing to Jones, Gane has worked his way back into the title picture, thanks to back-to-back wins over Serghei Spivac two years ago and Alexander Volkov last December, however the latter of which was a controversial split decision that most, including White, thought Volkov had won.
Oddsmakers have Gane as roughly a three-to-one underdog entering Saturday’s contest with Aspinall.
Gane has only four KO/TKO wins in his 12 UFC appearances but is a dangerous striker known for his movement and finesse.
Aspinall has been training with world heavyweight kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven to prepare for Gane.
Verhoeven has been the Glory Kickboxing heavyweight champion for the past decade and holds Aspinall’s striking prowess in high regard.
“Tom’s striking ability is on another level in boxing but also kickboxing and definitely in MMA,” Verhoeven said. “He’s so naturally strong and explosive. That’s what makes him very special. That makes him very dangerous as well. It doesn’t matter where the fight goes — stays standing up or goes to the ground — he’s going to win. If he hits clean, it’s going to be lights out.”
Gane said Wednesday when speaking with reporters in Abu Dhabi that he has been preparing for his matchup with Aspinall since March and feels well prepared.
“Tom Aspinall is well-rounded and a huge fighter,” the softspoken Gane said. “He’s a new breed just like me. Technical and fast.”
If Gane can upset the odds and defeat Aspinall as a significant underdog, it would be a massive accomplishment. It would also shake up a division many expect Aspinall to rule over for the foreseeable future while simultaneously giving Jones even more bragging rights than he already has, considering how he handled Gane when they fought.
Whether it’s Aspinall or Gane who gets their hand raised at Etihad Arena, the division’s next title contender will also be determined at UFC 321. No. 2-ranked heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov and No. 5-ranked Jailton Almeida meet on the main card in a title eliminator.
UFC 321 is the 22nd event the organization has held in Abu Dhabi and features a co-main event that’ll see past opponents Mackenzie Dern and Virna Jandiroba meet in a rematch for the vacant women’s strawweight title.
Below is the projected bout order for the card (subject to change):
— Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane
— Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern
— Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista
— Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida
— Aleksandar Rakic vs. Azamat Murzakanov
— Nasrat Haqparast vs. Quillan Salkilld
— Ikram Aliskerov vs. Park Jun-yong
— Ludovit Klein vs. Mateusz Rebecki
— Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Matheus Camilo
— Valter Walker vs. Louie Sutherland
— Nathaniel Wood vs. Jose Delgado
— Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Chris Barnett
— Azat Maksum vs. Mitch Raposo
— Jaqueline Amorim vs. Mizuki Inoue
