Tom Aspinall believes activity will be a factor in the upcoming rematch between Ciryl Gane (12-2) and Alexander Volkov (38-10).
Gane and Volkov will run it back at UFC 310 on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The two initially met back in 2021, when the Frenchman outpointed Volkov in a lackluster unanimous decision.
However, Aspinall believes things might play out differently this time. While Volkov bounced back from the Gane loss with a decision win over Marcin Tybura, he went on suffer a submission loss against Aspinall immediately afterwards. But “Drago” has since racked up four consecutive wins — including three finishes — within a span of two years. The Russian is fresh off a lopsided unanimous decision win over former training partner Sergei Pavlovich this past June.
Meanwhile, Gane has gone 3-2, alternating between wins and losses since his victory over Volkov. “Bon Gamin” hasn’t fought since a technical knockout win over Serghei Spivac in September 2023.
Aspinall believes Volkov has significantly improved since losing to him in 2022. “Honey Badger” also expects the Russian to have an edge over Gane due to the difference in recent activity.
“I think it’s a 50-50 fight,” Aspinall told CasinoHawks. “I know they fought before, and it was an absolute stinker—the first one was terrible. Since I fought Volkov, he’s improved a lot. He’s changed his training situation, and Gane has been inactive. Gane seems to fight once a year against opponents who suit him quite well. It’s hard to say; Volkov has been very active. I think he fought four or five times since we fought a couple of years ago, which is a lot for an elite heavyweight. I still think it’s a close fight, though, because I believe Gane is very good and smart, but I think it’ll be a lot closer than the last one, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Volkov pulled it off.”
