Tom Aspinall has given his breakdown and prediction for the UFC Freedom 250 co-main event between Ciryl Gane and Alex Pereira, and he’s leaning toward the French heavyweight on the scorecards.
Aspinall highlighted the historic stakes for Pereira, noting the Brazilian has already competed at middleweight and light heavyweight before moving to heavyweight. Aspinall stated that if Pereira wins the interim heavyweight title, he would become the first person to win UFC titles in three different weight classes. “First of all, he's an absolute generational talent, Alex Pereira,” Aspinall said.
Aspinall pointed to Pereira’s size and power but questioned how it will translate against a true heavyweight. “(Pereira) carries a lot of power at light heavy and middle, but he's also fighting a lot smaller guys whose punch resistance is a lot less,” he said, adding that Gane is used to taking punches from big heavyweights and referenced Gane’s durability over five rounds against Francis Ngannou.
Stylistically, Aspinall sees key advantages for Gane. He described Gane as a heavyweight who moves well, calling him “really, really fluid on his feet,” but also warned that “Gane doesn't like leg kicks” and praised Pereira as an “unbelievable leg kicker.”
Despite saying, “The Gane and Pereira fight, I struggle to pick a winner at this stage, to be honest,” Aspinall ultimately made his call clear: “I would say Gane by points. I think he's just going to move too much for him and beat him on points, I think.”
Aspinall also expressed interest in potential future title fights against either Gane or Pereira.
