The headliners of UFC 321, Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane have been talking to the media ahead of their clash in Abu Dhabi.
Both men present different puzzles for one another, particularly in their movement, and according to Aspinall, “It makes for a good match-up“. Neither man moves like a heavyweight, and Tom Aspinall in particular has been compared to a middleweight at points in his career.
The British champion averages just 2:02 in his nine-fight UFC career thus far, whereas his French counterpart, Gane, averages 14:15 across his 12-fight UFC career, going the 25-minute distance three times.
Gane claimed to be able to manage his distance better than anyone Aspinall has faced in the UFC so far and that he was going to be the one who takes him into the deep waters.
This comment appeared to excite Aspinall.
Tom Aspinall Promises Early Finish at UFC 321
On the back of Gane’s ‘deep waters’ comment, Aspinall asked for clarification as to whether he actually used the words ‘deep waters’. When this was confirmed, Aspinall appeared pleased, commenting:
“Everybody has said the word deep waters gets knocked out in the first minute. Go back and check the, go back and check the media that you’ve done. So, er, I’m pretty happy with that, that’s good.”
Some outlets have Tom Aspinall by knockout as low as -145, to win in the first round at +170 and to win by knockout in the first round at +290.
Interestingly, Aspinall commented that he didn’t believe that he is better than anyone and gave props to Gane, highlighting how hard he’s worked for his fight at UFC 321.
He also joked around with the media after being asked if he feels pressure to go out there and try to finish Gane early, to which he replied:
“I think everyone has seen me go in there and get quick finishes, so erm, me and my team, you know I’ve got one of the best heavyweight teams in the world, if not the best heavyweight team. Some of the best minds in the game, some of the best training partners in the game so we actually discussed and erm we’ve shown what we can do, shown how dangerous I am and we’re going to switch it up this time and we’re going to go out there and win a boring split decision”.
You can see Tom Aspinall’s full media day questions on the MMAJunkie YouTube channel here:
