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Tom Aspinall thinks highly of his UFC 321 challenger. Aspinall will make his return to action this Saturday in Abu Dhabi, 15 months after avenging his freak injury loss to Curtis Blaydes. During an interim title reign that broke records for its length, Aspinall defended his belt once at UFC 304 while Jon Jones continued to avoid unifying the titles. Now the undisputed heavyweight king, Aspinall will defend his crown against Ciryl Gane in the UFC 321 main event on October 25. Thanks to his dominant rise to the top in the promotion, the Briton will enter the cage as the favorite. Aspinall has been keen to insist that he is not underestimating ‘Bon Gamin’, and a recent fight week interview hammered home the respect he has for the challenger. Tom Aspinall chooses UFC 321 opponent Ciryl Gane over multiple ex-champions Ahead of his first defense of the undisputed heavyweight title at UFC 321, Aspinall played a fight week game of ‘Winner Stays On’ with TNT Sports. After the champ picked Brock Lesnar over both Andrei Arlovski and Don Frye, ‘The Beast Incarnate’ was unseated by Gane. And the WWE star was not the only ex-heavyweight champ eliminated by Gane. Aspinall also chose his upcoming opponent over the legendary Fabricio Werdum. He went on to give Gane the edge over names associated with the light heavyweight division — Chuck Liddell, ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and Rashad Evans — before choosing Randy Couture over the Frenchman. After switches to the likes of Francis Ngannou and Daniel Cormier, the game made its way to a Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall ending. No prizes for guessing which way the reigning champion went… Tom Aspinall accused of ‘gassing’ Ciryl Gane up so he looks better Aspinall’s choices quickly drew out reactions from some in the MMA community. Some were shocked to see the heavyweight king rate Gane so highly against some successful names from the past. “That Gane run was actually insane…wtf did I just listen to?” “Ciryl Gane beats Rampage?” “Brock smashed Randy.” “Love Tom but Werdum would’ve choked the life out of Gane.” Others, though, think they’ve worked out the reasoning behind Aspinall’s predictions. “Bro is gassing Gane so he looks better when he beats him.” “He’s not serious with these picks is he.”
