PARIS, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 05: (L-R) Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane face off during the UFC 321 press conference at The Accor Arena on September 05, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
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The second of two UFC pay-per-view fight cards for the month of October takes place this weekend. That fight card, UFC 321, features a heavyweight title fight between champion Tom Aspinall and former interim champ Ciryl Gane in the main event. The UFC PPV event takes place on Saturday, October 25, at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. A second title fight, for the vacant women’s strawweight crown, serves as the co-main event for UFC 321. We look at the full fight card for UFC 321: Aspinall vs. Gane.
The UFC 321 pay-per-view card features an early start time. The prelims are currently scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. ET with the PPV portion of the event kicking off at 2:00 p.m. ET. The prelims stream on ESPN+, while the UFC 321 PPV card streams on ESPN+ PPV.
UFC 321: Aspinall Vs. Gane PPV Card
Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane – For Aspinall’s UFC heavyweight title
Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern – For vacant UFC women’s strawweight title
Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista – Bantamweight
Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida – Heavyweight
Aleksandar Rakić vs. Azamat Murzakanov – Light heavyweight
UFC 321: Aspinall Vs. Gane Preliminary Card
Nasrat Haqparast vs. Quillan Salkilld – Ligfhweight
Ikram Aliskerov vs. JunYong Park – Middleweight
Ľudovít Klein vs. Mateusz Rębecki – Lightweight
Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Matheus Camilo – Lightweight
Valter Walker vs. Louie Sutherland – Heavyweight
Nathaniel Wood vs. Jose Miguel Delgado – Featherweight
Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Chris Barnett – Heavyweight
Azat Maksum vs. Mitch Raposo – Flyweight
Jaqueline Amorim vs. Mizuki Inoue – Strawweight
UFC 321 Fight Card Main Event: Tom Aspinall Vs. Ciryl Gane
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – JULY 27: Tom Aspinall of England reacts after his knockout victory against Curtis Blaydes in the interim UFC heavyweight championship bout during the UFC 304 event at Co-op Live on July 27, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
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Tom Aspinall (15-3) had a 7-2 professional MMA record when the UFC inked him to a deal in 2020. Aspinall made his promotional debut in July 2020 with a 45-second knockout win over Jake Collier. The win earned the then 27-year-old his first “Performance of the Night” bonus.
A knockout win over Alan Baudot followed in October of that year. Aspinall made it three stoppages in a row in February 2021 when he tapped Andrei Arlovski in the second round of their matchup, a card that was headlined by Curtis Blaydes losing to Derrick Lewis by second-round KO.
Aspinall’s win over Arlovski broke him into the rankings at No. 13. First-round stoppage wins over Serghei Spivac (TKO) and Alexander Volkov (submission) followed the Arlovski triumph.
The Blaydes matchup was next on Aspinall’s schedule. The injury he suffered in that contest kept him out of action until July 2023 when he stepped into the Octagon to face Marcin Tybura. Aspinall showed no hesitation or ill effects from his knee injury, as he dispatched Tybura in 73 seconds, winning the fight by TKO.
Then, with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones injured and out of his scheduled UFC 295 matchup against Stipe Miocic, the UFC tapped Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich to face off for the interim heavyweight title at UFC 295. Aspinall won the bout, and the title, with a 69-second knockout.
Aspinall defended the interim crown once, defeating Curtis Blaydes via knockout at the 1:00 mark of Round 1 of their UFC 304 matchup.
Now 32, Aspinall has seven first-round stoppage wins and one second-round stoppage victory under the UFC banner. He has never gone past 1:09 of the second round in UFC action. Aspinall has earned seven “Performance of the Night” bonuses during his UFC run. The only win he has where he failed to pick up a post-fight bonus was his win over Baudot in 2020.
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 26: Ciryl Gane of France celebrates his submission victory over Don’Tale Mayes in their heavyweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at Singapore Indoor Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Singapore. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
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Ciryl Gane (13-2) is the No. 1 fighter in the official UFC heavyweight rankings. The 35-year-old French competitor has only lost in UFC title fights, falling to Francis Ngannou by decision in 2022 for the undisputed title, and losing to Jon Jones via submission in 2023 for the vacant belt. Gane did capture the interim heavyweight belt in 2021 with a knockout of Derrick Lewis.
Gane debuted with the UFC in 2019 following a Muay Thai career. He was 3-0 in MMA when he first fought inside the Octagon. Gane went 7-0 to begin his UFC career. His first loss came in a title unification bout against Ngannou.
Gane enters UFC 321 on a two-fight winning streak. He defeated Serghei Spivac by TKO in September 2023. In his most recent trip to the Octagon, Gane bested Alexander Volkov via decision at UFC 310.
Tom Aspinall Named UFC Heavyweight Champ
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 09: Dana White is seen during UFC 312 at Qudos Bank Arena on February 09, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
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In June, then-UFC heavyweight champ Jon Jones retired. The UFC named Aspinall the undisputed champion at that time.
“Jon Jones called us last night and retired. Jon Jones is officially retired. Tom Aspinall is the heavyweight champion of the UFC,” White said during the post-fight press conference following the UFC Baku fight card.
“I obviously feel bad for Tom that he lost all that time and money, but we’ll make it up to him,” White added. “Tom Aspinall is a good guy. He’s been incredible through this whole process that we’ve gone through. He’s been willing to do anything – fight him anywhere at any time and do this. Now he’s like, ‘I’ll fight anybody. Tell me who and I’ll fight him.’ Aspinall has been great. He’s going to be a great heavyweight champion for us and I’m excited to work with him.”
“International Fight Week starts Monday in Las Vegas,” White continued. “Tom will be in Vegas all week with us, so we’ll get together with him and figure out what’s next.”
We will have more on UFC 321 as fight night nears.
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