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Ciryl Gane of the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship recently shed some light on Tom Aspinall’s next fight. After Jon Jones officially stepped away from MMA, Aspinall was crowned the new champion of the UFC’s heavyweight category.
In a June 25, 2025, appearance on UFC Unfiltered, the 35-year-old Ciryl Gane, who is now the No. 1 contender, talked about getting in the ring with Tom Aspinall.
“I just know my manager, Fernand Lopez, talked to the matchmaking with Hunter [Campbell] and I know they work on it this week... We are really confident of this fight happening because we know I’m the No. 1 contender,” Gane said.
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Notably, with Jones’ retirement and Aspinall’s new crowning as the UFC heavyweight champion, the Frenchman is now the No. 1 challenger to Aspinall’s title. Following Gane on the list, Alexander Volkov is the current No. 2 contender.
Meanwhile, on the June 26, 2025, episode of The Diary of a CEO, Tom Aspinall talked about who he wants to fight next.
“I’ve actually fought a lot of the top 10. One of the guys I’ve not fought is Ciryl Gane, French guy. That’s a fight that I was, look, I was actually chasing that fight a few times before he was ducking and diving around himself a little bit. So, he is due a little bit of a beating off me. I look forward to that. Couple more guys down the rankings, a Brazilian guy, Jailton Almeida, I've not fought. There’s a guy I’ve already beat, called Alexander Volkov, who’s doing really well for himself as well,” he said.
Jailton Almeida is currently ranked as the No. 5 contender for Tom Aspinall’s title.
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Current UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall opens up about his contenders
On the June 26 episode of The Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett hosted Tom Aspinall after he became the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. During his appearance, Aspinall talked about how he felt about Jon Jones’ retirement, which led to him gaining the title.
“Generally speaking, the No. 1 guy in the world is the UFC champion. And before Jon Jones retired, there was two of us in the division, which is a little bit of a strange conundrum that I wasn’t comfortable being in. I think that there should be one guy in every division, and now that Jon’s gone, obviously we didn’t get to fight about it, which I would have liked, but at least there’s one guy and I’m happy with that,” he said.
Bartlett then asked the English professional mixed martial artist about how he felt being the one now everyone would chase.
“I’m more than happy being chased. That’s fantastic. I would rather be the hunted as opposed to the hunter because I’ve been chased. I don’t like chasing fights. I like just being the guy, and everyone comes to me. That’s fantastic,” Tom Aspinall said.
The 32-year-old also mentioned that the heavyweight division was quite vast, and there were some “up-and-coming” guys whom he wanted to fight. Adding to the upcoming fight scene for the heavyweight title belt, Tom Aspinall promised that there were “some good fights to be made over the next couple of years for sure.”
The UFC is set to take off for Paris in September. The British champion will reportedly meet UFC brass in the coming days. Meanwhile, UFC’s pay-per-view (PPV) main events have reportedly been booked for July and August.
