Ciryl Gane isn’t feeling any strain going into his third crack on the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship.
After developing brief towards Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones in years previous, ‘Bon Gamin’ hopes the third time would be the allure when he challenges reigning titleholder Tom Aspinall this Saturday night time at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi.
Gane, 35, has been on the cusp of undisputed glory for fairly a while, even capturing the division’s interim belt, handily defeating Derrick Lewis to assert the non permanent title again in 2021.
Sadly for Gane, he failed to assert the undisputed crown in each 2023 and 2024, leaving his standing within the weight class unsure.
With back-to-back wins towards Serghei Spivac and Alexander Volkov, Gane as soon as once more finds himself with a shot on the division’s prime prize, although this might very nicely be his final likelihood at claiming the heavyweight throne.
“Folks say it’s my final likelihood,” Gane mentioned in the course of the UFC 321 media day on Wednesday. “I don’t care about that. If I would like, I can hold preventing till I’m 40. I’m nonetheless younger, nonetheless hungry. For me, this isn’t strain — it’s motivation. I’m actually offended in a great way — excited for the problem.”
Gane would be the first fighter to problem Aspinall after the Brit was promoted from interim to undisputed champion following Jon Jones‘ “retirement” from the game earlier this 12 months.
Total, Aspinall is 8-1 contained in the Octagon, along with his solely loss coming by way of a freak damage he suffered 15 seconds into his inaugural conflict towards Curtis Blaydes in 2022. After all, Aspinall would go on to avenge that defeat, placing ‘Razor’ away 60 seconds into their interim title conflict at UFC 304 final 12 months.
