Former interim heavyweight champion, Ciryl Gane has denied refusing to combat incoming UFC 304 headliner and present interim titleholder, Tom Aspinall – claiming the British star has been strategic along with his callouts, limiting them to intervals when he can not compete.
Gane, the present quantity two ranked heavyweight challenger, booked his return to the Octagon in a single day, touchdown a rematch with surging Russian ace, Alexander Volkov in a showdown at UFC 308 in October in a visit to Abu Dhabi.
As for present interim kingpin, Aspinall, the Atherton native co-headlines UFC 304 on the finish of this month, himself rematching perennial contender, Curtis Blaydes – trying to defend his championship.
And initially linked with a showdown towards Gane on the identical card in Manchester, rumors surfaced that the Frenchman had turned down the pairing, selecting as an alternative to characteristic in an upcoming film in an performing position.
Ciryl Gane affords to fulfill Tom Aspinall before later
Nevertheless, off the again of reserving his Center East matchup with Volkov, Gane has claimed he’ll finally share the Octagon with Aspinall sooner or later, after voicing his dismay with the timing of his callouts.
“He (Tom Aspinall) solely accepts my fights after I can not,” Ciryl Gane mentioned on Twitch. “He likes to say that I refuse him however the fact is that I’ve already referred to as him out on the networks. Now that he’s above [in the rankings[, he allows himself to say, ‘No, no, no’. No problem, we’ll meet each other.” (via Google Translate)
Sidelined since last year’s annual UFC Paris event in September, hometown favorite, Gane most recently landed a shutout knockout win over common-foe, Serghei Spivak in front of a raucous crowd at the Accor Arena.
Prior to that, Gane dropped just his second career loss in the form of a dominant opening round guillotine choke submission loss to Jon Jones in the pair’s vacant heavyweight championship showdown.
Who would win in a future title showdown: Tom Aspinall or Ciryl Gane?