Ciryl Gane: “I don’t want to get beat up in front of millions of people”

As Tom Aspinall prepares for his first title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321, many believe that the Englishman will face tremendous pressure, knowing that a loss could invalidate claims that he was ever a legitimate threat to Jon Jones, seeing as ‘Bones’ defeated the Frenchman in under a round.

However, Aspinall appears to believe both he and his opponent would be under the same amount of pressure at the upcoming title fight.

For context, it took Jones just 1:24 minutes to submit ‘Bon Gamin’ in their heavyweight title fight at UFC 285. Aspinall was widely regarded as the biggest threat to the New Yorker’s reign, a match Jones never entertained, forcing the Briton to defend his interim title twice instead.

Aspinall was eventually elevated to full-time champion as Jones chose retirement over fighting him.

Getting brutally honest with TNT Sports, about mental hurdles he’s facing en route to the upcoming showdown against Gane, the reigning heavyweight champion said:

“There are those who pressure wears them down, and then there are those who shine under pressure, and I’m 100% part of the latter.”

Aspinall added:

“It’s not just me who’s under pressure. It’s his third title shot, and he failed the first two. So yeah, there’s a lot of pressure on me, but there’s also a lot of pressure on him… I don’t want to get beat up in front of millions of people. That’s the biggest pressure for me.”

‘Bon Gamin’ is 2-0 in undisputed UFC title fights, first dropping a unanimous decision to Francis Ngannou at UFC 270, then suffering a quick finish against ‘Bones’ in his second bid for gold.

Check out Tom Aspinall’s comments below:

When Tom Aspinall highlighted what sets him apart from Ciryl Gane

Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane are two of the most feared strikers at heavyweight. Both men possess unbelievable speed for the heavier weight class and hold wins against top-tier UFC talent.

Aspinall, however, believes he possesses a better overall MMA game and a great equalizer that could sway the fight in his favor were they ever to meet in the octagon. During his post-fight press conference after a first-round KO win over Marcin Tybura in 2023, Aspinall said:

“I’m equally as fast as him. I move equally as well. The difference is I can grapple, and I’ve got a lot of power, and that’s pretty undeniable at this stage of my career. I’ve got a lot of knockouts on my record mate.”