Ahead of UFC 321, people are talking about Tom Aspinall making his long-awaited return after over a year on the sidelines. But the case is somewhat the same for his opponent, Ciryl Gane, who also had his last fight in 2024, and he will be opening his account this year on Saturday against the Brit. The situation is often intense when two fighters enter fight week and get into a different zone. However, things appear to be normal between Aspinall and Gane.

Ciryl Gane is not one to talk trash about his rivals, and the same can be said for Tom Aspinall. Ahead of the fight, the Frenchman revealed that if there’s something cooked up by the media, it’s good for the fans. “That’s [media spicing things up between him and Aspinall] cool for the social media,” Gane stated during the UFC 321 media day. Also, ‘Bon Gamin’ has cleared the air about his feelings towards the Englishman.

No bad blood, and no pressure against Tom Aspinall, claims Ciryl Gane

Ciryl Gane is mostly seen smiling, which was the same during the media day. He claims that he’s not the kind of person who’d go off on someone just because they’re rivals, and Tom Aspinall is no exception. “Not [it’s] not about bad blood. I’m not this kind of guy. Everybody know already,” he further stated during the media day. Gane claims the fight against the reigning champion will certainly not be a cakewalk for him, but he has assured that the fans “can expect a big fight.”

It might come as a surprise to see Ciryl Gane having no issues with Tom Aspinall, even though the champion and his team have been pretty vocal about their claims regarding the Frenchman avoiding a fight against him. These claims caused a back-and-forth between the two heavyweights, as Gane responded to them in a pretty fiery manner.

So, Tom Aspinall has claimed that Ciryl Gane avoided him not once but multiple times. But the title challenger does not agree with this assessment. In his response, Gane suggests the 32-year-old to “stop tripping” while revealing that the fights he was offered by the UFC did not include his name at all. Also, ‘Bon Gamin’ has been pretty busy with his acting endeavors with multiple projects.

Fast forward to now, Ciryl Gane is fighting for the undisputed title a third time in his UFC career, and it could very well be his last chance at the title. However, the Frenchman seems relaxed compared to the previous two occasions because he claims that there was more pressure on him to perform against Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones than he has right now ahead of UFC 321. “Because I got experience now, [there’s] less pressure… More pressure for Ngannou. A little bit less for Jones. And less for Tom Aspinall,” Gane added.

As we all know, Ciryl Gane has been called out by many popular figures in MMA and by the analysts for the lack of a proper ground game. Despite those concerns, ‘Bon Gamin’ claims that he might just go into “deep waters” with Tom Aspinall. That prompted a warning from the heavyweight champion. Here’s what he had to say.

Aspinall warns Gane about getting KO’d in 60 seconds

Tom Aspinall was in disbelief when a media member got him up to speed about Gane’s claim that he might take the fight to him, especially for the use of the term ‘deep waters’. He has advised the Frenchman to look out for what happens in the fight this weekend because fighters who make such claims often find themselves in the opposite situation. And as we all know, Aspinall has gained fame for finishing his opponents pretty quickly.

“Did he actually use the word ‘deep waters’? Everybody who said the word ‘deep waters’ gets knocked out in the first minute,” said Tom Aspinall. “Go back and check the media that you’ve done. So, I’m pretty happy with that. That’s good.” Apart from the warnings about what to expect during the fight, Aspinall claimed to have nothing but respect for Ciryl Gane.

It seems like things are getting interesting now, with just days to go for UFC 321. While the oddsmakers gave Tom Aspinall as the favorite, he’s not taking any chances against Ciryl Gane and has been training with one of the best kickboxers in the world, Rico Verhoeven, in his camp. What do you predict for the PPV this weekend? Drop your comments below.