Tom Aspinall has weighed in on Ciryl Gane’s interim heavyweight title victory over Alex Pereira and says he’s ready to meet Gane in Paris later this year.
Aspinall was not invited to the UFC White House event in Washington, DC, and instead watched the Freedom 250 fight card from home, where Gane stopped Pereira by second-round TKO in a heavyweight co-main event for an interim 265-pound title. The interim winner is positioned for a chance to unify the division belts against Aspinall later this year.
Breaking down what he saw, Aspinall said, "I have to watch that again. It looked like there was a lot of illegal elbows going on, illegal punches, but generally, he looked good. [Pereira] just didn’t really seem to get going, did he? He just looked like a bit stiff and reserved from the beginning. I don’t know if he was trying to feel his way into the fight or what, but he just never seemed to … he looked slow, but he’s not a particularly fast light heavyweight. Paris in September, right? I’ll do that. Yeah, I’ll do that. Let me know. I don’t mind. I’ll go to Paris. Let me know."
UFC returns to Paris on Sept. 5 at Accor Arena in France. Aspinall and Gane previously fought at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi, but the bout was ruled a No Contest after an eye poke from Gane. Aspinall is recovering from the eye injury and expects to be ready to compete in the fall.
