'He refused to fight me' - Tom Aspinall claps back at Ciryl Gane’s callout and suggest he faces a surging heavyweight contender first
Tom Aspinall realized his dream of becoming a world champion this weekend after knocking out Sergei Pavlovich in Round 1 of their clash at UFC 295.
They faced off in the co-main event, and fans expected fireworks from the opening bell. It was also due to the pair holding the No. 1 and No. 2 shortest average fight times in the UFC respectively.
After a short feeling-out process, the Mancunian uncorked a rapid combination of punches that left Pavlovich unconscious, and was crowned the interim heavyweight champion.
Ciryl Gane, who had dismissed the idea of fighting Tom Aspinall during an interview in September, took to X to call out the new UFC interim champion.
Aspinall was informed of Gane's callout during a post-fight interview, where he fired back at the Frenchman. He suggested that 'Bon Gamin' should face surging heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida next, and that the Mancunian would fight the winner.
He said this:
"[Gane] can fight Almeida first. Because he refused a fight with me, so now before he jumps back in and waits for his shot. He can fight Almeida, them guys can fight and the winner can fight me."
Listen to Tom Aspinall's comments below from 1:40:
Tom Aspinall reveals suffering a back injury in the first week of training for clash with Sergei Pavlovich
Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich went to war in the co-main event of UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden this weekend for the interim heavyweight title.
The New York pay-per-view card was initially set to be headlined by Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic for the undisputed title. But 'Bones' suffered an injury two weeks before fight night, and was forced to withdraw from the bout.
Pavlovich was already the scheduled back-up fighter for the original UFC 295 main event. But the promotion's CEO, Dana White, opted against "disrespecting" Miocic by offering him an interim title shot against the Russian.
Instead, Tom Aspinall was asked to step up on 12-day notice, and he happily obliged.
During the fight, he did not appear to be impaired by any injuries. But, during a post-fight interview with Laura Sanko, Aspinall revealed he pulled a muscle in his back during training for his title fight.
Aspinall said:
"I actually pulled my back and didn't really train at all... I injured it on the first week after I found out about the fight... I've not been able to train for the last week and a half... I had about 5 days training camp"
Watch the video below: