UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall breaks heavy bag during UFC 321 training camp

UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall looks ready to return to the Octagon and finally trade punches with an actual opponent again.

Formerly the UFC’s interim heavyweight titleholder, Aspinall was promoted to undisputed champion when Jon Jones elected to retire and vacate his heavyweight belt without meeting the Englishman in what would have been a massive title unification fight.

Now scheduled to defend his undisputed title for the first time against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi, Aspinall recently shared a video of himself completely breaking the chain on a heavy bag during training.

Tom Aspinall Kicks Off Post-Jon Jones Heavyweight Era

Outside of a 2022 matchup with Curtis Blaydes at UFC London that ended in just 15 seconds due to a knee injury, Aspinall has yet to taste defeat in the Octagon and has only suffered two losses across his professional and amateur MMA careers.

The 32-year-old stopped Marcin Tybura in his return from injury in 2023 and became the UFC’s interim heavyweight champion at UFC 295 when he knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in just over a minute. That matchup was supposed to be a non-title bout, but it was upgraded to an interim title fight when Jones withdrew from the event’s originally-scheduled main event against Stipe Miocic.

Tom Aspinall (red gloves) fights Marcin Tybura (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at O2 Arena. | Per Haljestam-Imagn Images

Aspinall made a rare interim title defense at UFC 304 and avenged his loss to Blaydes with a 60-second knockout while Jones remained committed to a matchup with Miocic, who “Bones” defeated at UFC 309 in his final fight before retiring.

Third Time's The Charm For Ciryl Gane?

The first fight of Aspinall's undisputed title reign will see the champion try to defend his belt against #1-ranked Gane, who previously won the division’s interim title by stopping Derrick Lewis in 2021.

“Bon Gamin” suffered a unanimous decision loss to Francis Ngannou in a title unification bout at UFC 270 before Ngannou left the UFC and vacated his belt. Gane earned another title shot with a victory over Tai Tuivasa in the main event of UFC Paris, but Jones submitted the Frenchman in just over two minutes to win the vacant heavyweight belt at UFC 285 and add to his already incredible legacy.

Ciryl Gane (red gloves) defeats Tai Tuivasa (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Accor Arena. | Per Haljestam-Imagn Images

Back-to-back wins over top contenders Serghei Spivac and Alexander Volkov have set Gane up for a third crack at UFC gold when he and Aspinall headline UFC 321, which will also see Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern fight for the recently-vacated strawweight title in the card’s co-main event.

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