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Brett Okamoto
Tom Aspinall’s first defense of the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight championship will come against Ciryl Gane on Oct. 25, UFC CEO Dana White announced Tuesday.
The heavyweight championship bout will headline UFC 321 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Aspinall (15-3) was elevated to the UFC’s undisputed champion last month, after former champion Jon Jones elected to retire rather than face him.
Aspinall won the interim title in November 2023 and even made a rare interim title defense last July while waiting for Jones to agree to face him. Jones announced his retirement last month, only to immediately suggest he intends to come back in 2026.
Aspinall, of England, is 8-1 in the UFC with seven first-round finishes. His only loss came against Curtis Blaydes in 2022, when he suffered a freak knee injury just 15 seconds into the contest.
Gane (13-2), of France, is a former interim champion. He won the interim title over Derrick Lewis in 2021, but he came up short in a bid to unify against then-champion Francis Ngannou in 2022.