Ciryl Gane gunning for Tom Aspinall fight in 2025, views UFC 310 as 'a semifinal to go to the belt'

Ciryl Gane is in pursuit of his third career UFC title shot.

Europe has led the charge in recent years in cultivating some of the world's best young heavyweights. Before Tom Aspinall claimed the UFC interim title late in late 2023, France's Gane appeared to emerge as the future when he won interim gold in August 2021. A then-undefeated striking sensation, Gane gained so much confidence from the community that he was the betting favorite over the then-undisputed champion Francis Ngannou before the two collided in January 2022's UFC title unification bout.

Plenty has changed at heavyweight since, but nothing more significant than the departures of Ngannou and Stipe Miocic along with the divisional arrival of Jon Jones. Despite being delayed, Jones and Miocic finally had their legacy bout in November, with Jones coming out on top courtesy of a vicious third-round spinning back kick knockout to the body. Gane is intimately familiar with Jones — he lost a title bout to the all-time great in 2023 — so he wasn't surprised to see Jones have his way at UFC 309.

"It was a great fight," Gane said Monday on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show." "Every time, Jon Jones knows what he needs to do to win the fight, and he's really experimented, so he did it one more time.

"One-hundred percent, he's not the same Stipe from five years ago, six years ago. That's completely normal. But Jon Jones and Stipe for sure are still really dangerous for the division."

Gane's own time with UFC gold was short-lived; Ngannou defied the odds in their unification bout, utilizing an underrated wrestling game to successfully defend the belt with a unanimous decision.

By the time Jones was ready to debut in the division the following year, Ngannou had left the UFC and Gane had rebounded with a knockout of Tai Tuivasa, setting the Frenchman up for his vacant title bout against Jones. But Gane was unable to spoil Jones' welcome party in the weight class, coming up short with an anticlimactic first-round submission loss.

Given that, Gane wasn't surprised that Jones' dominance continued against a 42-year-old Miocic.

"Jon Jones is the GOAT, so it was perfectly normal to have this kind of result," Gane said. "Yes, Stipe is a beautiful fighter. He did very well during his career and is one of the better of the best of the division, for sure, and he proved it. But I know Jon Jones is the real GOAT. He's really smart during the fight and knows what he must do."

Following his loss to Jones, the 34-year-old Gane returned to the win column with a second-round knockout of Serghei Spivac in September 2023. "Bon Gamin" now steps into the Octagon for the first and only time in 2024 when he rematches Alexander Volkov at UFC 310 this Saturday.

Heavyweight is still sorting out the drama between its two UFC champions — Jones and Aspinall — heading into 2025. Assuming all goes well and the duo fight as the world hopes, that leaves the Gane vs. Volkov 2 winner as the clear next contender.

Aspinall and Gane have had a rocky connection over the years without ever fighting, with both taking shots — some thinly veiled, some more overt — at the other at various points. France's finest hopes the title scene can move on smoothly in 2025, opening the door to a long-awaited potential Aspinall fight.

Though if Jones ends up getting his wish of an Alex Pereira champion vs. champion superfight instead, it'll potentially shorten Gane's path to the British titlist even more.

"[Jones vs. Aspinall] makes sense, but Jon Jones now, he [has] nothing to prove and he can choose [to fight] for the legacy," Gane said. "Now he's in a really great [position].

"If the fight's going to happen with Alex Pereira, he's going to win a lot of money. And if the UFC wants to do the fight against Tom, I think he going to ask for a lot of money too. He's a businessman."

Regardless, Gane can't shift his focus toward Aspinall or a third UFC title shot until he gets past Volkov. Gane previously defeated Volkov by decision in 2021, setting himself up for his interim title bout.

"At first, when the UFC proposed me this fight, I was a little bit [like], 'Oh ... why?'" Gane said. "But this fight makes sense. I'm No. 1 [ranked contender], he's No. 2 and this really makes sense. Behind me [in the rankings], you have a little trouble, so I know this fight looks like a semifinal to go to the belt."