UFC CEO Dana White says interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane will have more work to do after Tom Aspinall vacated his title.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) has been sidelined after sustaining an eye injury in his title fight against Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) at UFC 321 last October. With Aspinall on the sidelines, Gane won the interim title by defeating Alex Pereira at UFC Freedom 250.
Ideally, a rematch between Aspinall and Gane would be next, but Aspinall is still not in condition to compete any time soon, so he announced that he would be vacating his title.
Speaking on the situation for the first time since Aspinall’s announcement, White said Gane will have more work to do and will not automatically be elevated from interim to undisputed.
“Does it make (Gane) the undisputed champion? No. He’s still gotta fight,” White told Sportsnet.
White continued to say that Gane will have a fight announced “very soon,” which will likely determine the new undisputed heavyweight champion.
“We’ll see how this whole thing plays out with Aspinall,” White said. “Ciryl will fight, and we’ll see who becomes the champion. I mean, this isn’t the first time this has ever happened. It’s happening right now with Valentina Shevchenko too, so this is nothing now. This happens sometimes. It’s unfortunate; it’s not the best outcome, but it is what it is.”
Pereira (13-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) stirred up online chatter by recently posing for a photo after a meeting with UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell, fueling rumors of an immediate rematch between Pereira and Gane. Since their fight at UFC Freedom 250, Pereira has repeatedly expressed his displeasure with how it unfolded, saying Gane landed numerous punches to the back of his head.
In the UFC’s official heavyweight media rankings, Alexander Volkov is ranked No. 2 behind Gane, and Sergei Pavlovich holds the No. 3 spot. Another popular option to face Gane could be No. 4 Josh Hokit.
