Tom Aspinall has accused Ciryl Gane of ducking multiple fighters, including himself.
Aspinall is heavily rumored to be part of the UFC’s yet-to-be-announced pay-per-view event in Manchester, England later this year. The UK-based star has been teasing his potential return, presumably to put his interim heavyweight title on the line against the only man to own a victory over him inside the Octagon, Curtis Blaydes.
Appearing on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Aspinall shared some insight into his next fight — specifically who it would not be against. Asked if there’s any chance of him fighting undisputed champion Jon Jones or former two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic at the event, Aspinall was quick to rule them both out. When Ciryl Gane’s name popped up, Aspinall accused the Frenchman of ducking fights left and right.
Tom Aspinall says that Ciryl Gane has ducked many fighters on multiple occasions, including Sergei Pavlovich, Curtis Blaydes, and himself.
He also says that the reason he fought Sergei Pavlovich at MSG is because Ciryl Gane ducked Pavlovich.
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“He’s dismissed me on multiple occasions and I’m not the first guy he’s dismissed,” Aspinall said. “I’m not the first guy that he’s ducked. It’s out there for people to see. The reason that I got the Pavlovich fight is because Ciryl didn’t want it. He ducked Pavlovich. He then ducked Curtis Blaydes. Blaydes has been on record saying that. I asked for him years ago. He didn’t want it then. Then I asked for him in Paris. They flew me over to make that fight. He didn’t want it then so we’ll see what the UFC wants to do.”
Ciryl Gane has come up short in two UFC title opportunities
‘Bon Gamin’ has won six of his last eight fights with his two losses during that run coming in title fights against former champion Francis Ngannou and current heavyweight king Jon Jones. After coming up short against ‘Bones’ at UFC 285, Gane bounced back with a big second-round knockout over Serghei Spivac at UFC Paris in September. Gane still sits as the No. 2 ranked contender in the heavyweight division.
After winning the interim belt in November, Tom Aspinall lobbied hard for a title unification clash with Jon Jones, even going so far as to approach ‘Bones’ at one of the undisputed champ’s promotional appearances. Unfortunately, that fight is looking less likely with each passing day.
As a result, Aspinall has opted to move on from Jones and will look to score a bit of redemption against Curtis Blaydes.