Interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall could be looking at his future opponent from UFC 310.
Ciryl Gane (12-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) runs things back with Alexander Volkov (38-10 MMA, 6-3 UFC) in Saturday’s main card (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN2, Hulu, ESPN+) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) is currently gunning for a title-unification bout with heavyweight champion Jon Jones, but if he doesn’t get his wish, he could end up facing the winner of Gane vs. Volkov. Aspinall broke down the key factors of the pivotal heavyweight clash.
“The feet are very important in this fight in my opinion,” Aspinall told TNT Sports. “When I say the feet, I’m not talking about the kicking as such – I’m talking about the positioning of their feet. If Volkov can get him going backwards and keep him against the fence, he can just use that length and tee off on him with the kicks and the punches like we’re seeing there.
“On the contrary to that, Ciryl Gane is really good moving backwards – that’s his strength, is he lures his opponents in and moves off on them angles. So it’s just an interesting matchup of styles, and we love heavyweight fights.”
Gane won his first meeting with Volkov in June 2021 by unanimous decision – a fight Aspinall thinks was lackluster.
“Stinker … terrible fight,” Aspinall said. “No one remembers it. Nothing really happened in the fight. It was just a lot of clinching up against the fence – not a lot of great damage done.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
