Aspinall to defend undisputed title against Gane

Aspinall is Britain's first UFC heavyweight champion

Britain's Tom Aspinall will make the first defence of his undisputed heavyweight title against France's Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi on 25 October.

Aspinall, 32, was upgraded to champion of the division last month when former title holder Jon Jones retired and vacated his belt.

Aspinall spent 19 months as interim champion but an undisputed title showdown with Jones failed to materialise.

The fight with 35-year-old Gane will come 15 months after Aspinall's last outing, where he defended his interim title against Curtis Blaydes.

The UFC has also announced light-heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev will defend his title in a rematch against Alex Pereira at UFC 320 in Las Vegas on 4 October.

Georgia's Merab Dvalishvili will put his bantamweight belt on the line against American Cory Sandhagen on the same card.

In a post confirming the contest with Gane on Instagram, Aspinall wrote "time to remind 'em".

Manchester's Aspinall repeatedly called for an undisputed title fight with Jones after winning the interim belt in November 2023, but the American remained non-committal.

Jones instead defended his belt against fellow countryman Stipe Miocic in November, leaving Aspinall to wait for a potential bout, before retiring seven months later.

Aspinall is Britain's first UFC heavyweight champion and has won eight of his nine fights in the promotion, with his wins all coming via finish.

Gane is a former UFC interim heavyweight champion but has twice suffered defeat fighting for the undisputed title - against Francis Ngannou in 2022, and against Jones the following year.

He last fought against Russia's Alexander Volkov in December, winning by split decision in an unconvincing performance.

Since making his UFC debut in 2019, Gane has won 10 of his 12 bouts.

Aspinall will be favourite - analysis

After eight months in limbo since Jones defended his title against Miocic, Aspinall can finally move on with his career.

At 32, Aspinall could feel he is in his prime - which is why he has promised to be an active champion, fighting any challenger anywhere.

His first opponent is Gane – someone Aspinall wanted to fight in 2023, but the contest did not come to fruition.

In many ways, Gane has received similar compliments to Aspinall throughout his UFC career, with the pair being complimented for the speed they showcase at heavyweight.

Gane is primarily a striker who controls distance with excellent footwork, but he does lack the explosive knockout power of Aspinall.

Gane's two UFC defeats have also exposed holes in his grappling, with Ngannou controlling him on the ground in 2022 and Jones submitting him in ruthless fashion in 2023.

Because Aspinall stops his opponents so quickly - he has seven first-round finishes in the UFC - parts of his skillset still remain unknown.

However victories over Volkov in 2022 and Andrei Arlovski the previous year show how dangerous the Briton can be on the ground.

Aspinall will head into the bout as favourite but Gane will have a point to prove after coming up short twice before when fighting for undisputed gold.