Tom AspinallvsCiryl Gane

Here's the thing: these two already threw down in Abu Dhabi back in October, and it ended in the most frustrating way possible. Aspinall was landing clean, Gane was moving slick, and then an eye poke at 4:35 of the first round shut the whole thing down. What looked accidental turned into a major controversy when Aspinall accused Gane of intentional cheating, saying Gane had his fingers pointed at his eyes in nearly every exchange. Fans are still pissed because we got robbed of what was shaping up to be an absolute banger. The aftermath got messy. Aspinall was diagnosed with bilateral traumatic Brown's syndrome and still hasn't been medically cleared to train or compete. He might need surgery. Dana White caught heat for suggesting Aspinall didn't want to continue, which fired up the British heavyweight even more.

Aspinall posted medical paperwork proving the injury was legit and promised revenge on Gane. The fight needs to happen again, plain and simple. What makes this matchup so wild is the speed factor at heavyweight. Aspinall's been smoking dudes in under a minute. Remember when he flatlined Sergei Pavlovich in 69 seconds at MSG, or that 60 second destruction of Curtis Blaydes in Manchester? The guy's a finishing machine. But Gane's got that Muay Thai background and moves like he's two weight classes lighter. When they fought, Gane was actually landing at 75% and looked comfortable in the pocket before everything went sideways.

The technical battle is insane to think about. Aspinall throws heat and closes distance like a freight train, but Gane's footwork and range management are next level. Just look at how he picked apart Serghei Spivac with 110 strikes landed, or how he outworked Alexander Volkov over three rounds in December 2024. Can Gane stay on the outside and point fight his way through five rounds, or does Aspinall's power eventually catch up to him? That's the million dollar question. This is for the heavyweight title, and both guys know they've got unfinished business. The first fight answered nothing, and now the whole division is waiting to see who's really the best heavyweight on the planet.