Warning: Don’t whisper into a microphone.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is set to make his first title defense as undisputed champion against former interim titleholder Ciryl Gane in UFC 321’s main event this weekend (Sat., Oct. 25, 2025) inside Etihad Arena on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
If Aspinall can get past Gane, the British champion could be in for a long reign — and a lot of money — because, according to former Heavyweight king Daniel Cormier, the division is absolutely weak.
During Aspinall’s media day obligations today (Weds., Oct. 22, 2025), “DC” sat down with the champ for an interview. After wrapping up, Cormier pulled Aspinall aside to secretly whisper some thoughts. What he didn’t realize, however, was that Aspinall was still mic’d up … and captured everything on video — which he later published on his YouTube channel.
“These matchups in this division, like, do you know what type of f—king run you can go on? It would be crazy,” Cormier said. “You can like change your life. Because I mean, what is it? Jailton Almeida is fighting [Volkov]. Jailton can’t fight. [Even if Volkov wins], you beat him in the first round. It could get f—king crazy.”
“Bro, you’re on the verge of some crazy shit. Keep working hard, though. You gotta keep working hard,” Cormier added. “Things like this don’t come around very often. Right? It’s like when I got to fight Volkan [Oezdemir]. I had to defend the belt against Volkan Oezdemir one time, man. Did I win the lottery, son? They were like, ‘Hey, we think we can get you to fight Volkan.’ I was like, ‘Yes! I’ll take it.’”
Poor Jailton Almeida and Volkan Oezdemir caught some strays from Cormier, one of UFC’s lead commentators and analysts.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 321 fight card, starting with the ESPN+/Disney+/FX “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET, before the main card start time at 2 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
To checkout the latest and greatest UFC 321: “Aspinall vs. Gane” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
