Dricus du Plessis has his decide for the UFC 321 important occasion between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane, however he’s simply blissful that Aspinall is returning to the octagon.
Aspinall defends the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship for the primary time since being promoted to that title following Jon Jones notifying the UFC of his retirement in June to headline the UFC’s return to Abu Dhabi on Oct. 25. Aspinall captured the interim belt at UFC 295 in November 2023 with a 69 second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich.
Since then, Aspinall has solely competed as soon as, and he solely wanted 60 seconds to get rid of Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in July 2024. Now that Aspinall is again, du Plessis is placing his combat fan and combat analyst hat on.
“I’m simply so blissful that it’s really going to occur,” du Plessis informed Struggle Forecast. “I imply, fingers crossed, however I imply, when this combat was within the making, we noticed Aspinall take a break for, perhaps, nearly two years, I feel, and it nearly feels unreal that he’s really going to combat. And it’s not his fault, after all. … They had been ready for that massive Jon Jones combat, which is clearly not going to occur, however he’s the place he’s for an excellent purpose.
“All of the hype is actual with regards to Aspinall. I simply don’t assume there’s a heavyweight on the planet that may even compete with him on the ft, on the grappling facet of issues. Now wrestling smart… with regards to wrestling, he does what he must, however when he will get to the bottom he’s actually skillful.”
Gane, a former interim heavyweight champion, seems to be to change into undisputed champ in his third try. Gane misplaced each of his alternatives to Jones and Francis Ngannou, and received the prospect to face Aspinall regardless of successful a controversial resolution towards Alexander Volkov at UFC 310 this previous December.
The placing and motion of “Bon Gamin” might pay dividends within the combat, however in the long run, du Plessis sees Aspinall getting his hand raised.
“In fact, each of them [move] like middleweights with regards to the ft,” du Plessis stated. “They’re so gentle on their ft, however I simply assume Aspinall has a bit extra with regards to pulling that set off. We’ve seen Ciryl Gane generally nearly simply let the combat slip away from him, particularly when it goes into the [late] rounds. However then once more, we’ve by no means seen Tom Aspinall go that far so it’s going to be very fascinating.
“I’m going Aspinall on this one. I feel he’s hungry, I feel he’s prepared, he seems to be phenomenal within the coaching footage that I noticed. Clearly, Cyril Gane is a specimen. Simply the way in which he’s constructed, he’s huge. And as soon as once more, something can occur. It’s heavyweight.”
