Will Gane Or Aspinall Handle The Pressure Better?

UFC heavyweight Jailton Almeida says Ciryl Gane may not be fully focused for his UFC 321 title shot against heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

Gane faces off against Aspinall on October 25 for his first title shot since 2023. On that occasion, he suffered a first-round submission loss to Jon Jones. Since then, Gane has racked up two wins on the spin, beating Serghei Spivac and Alexander Volkov, respectively. While Aspinall has previously accused Gane of ducking, the pressure is on Tom in his first title defense. And yet, Almeida has questioned Gane’s preparation, stating that the Frenchman has too many things outside of the Octagon to keep him busy, one of which is his acting career.

Gane’s Mindset

“I’m pretty sure that Aspinall beats Gane. It seems like Gane has other priorities in his life right now, and once you’re fighting at this level there can’t be no other priority. If you’re fighting at this level, if you’re fighting for the heavyweight crown of the UFC, you have to be all in, and it doesn’t seem like that’s the case for Gane right now. I get it that he’s taking it because who’s not going to take another title fight for the heavyweight belt? But I think his priorities are in a different place now,” Almeida said

However, the pressure is on Aspinall to deliver. If he has any chance of securing the Jones fight, he must come out with a win. Jones recently re-enterd the testing pool, indicating his wish to fight at the upcoming UFC White House card next year. Jones even went so far as to state that he would fight the champion, who is currently Aspinall. Although White ruled out Jones appearing on the card, Dana could very well be swayed if it leads to the biggest UFC fight in history. Chael Sonnen felt Aspinall had no choice but to win. 

Aspinall’s Pressure

“Never in the history of our sport has anybody had more pressure on them than Tom Aspinall. Pressure creates fatigue. It creates a chemical release… same as adrenaline, same as excitement, same as fear. It creates a release and it can paralyze you. You don’t really know what kind of guy you are until you find yourself in that position. He’s got to not just win, he’s got to win fast. I don’t know that Tom could find himself in a harder spot. I’m excited to have a heavyweight champion that wants to fight, compete, come speak, meet the public, be part of the community,” Sonnen stated