Tom
Aspinall believes activity will be a factor in the upcoming
rematch between Ciryl Gane
(12-2) and Alexander
Volkov (38-10).
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Gane and Volkov will run it back at UFC 310
on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The two initially met
back in 2021, when the Frenchman outpointed Volkov in a lackluster
unanimous decision.
However, Aspinall believes things might play out differently this
time. While Volkov bounced back from the Gane loss with a decision
win over Marcin
Tybura, he went on suffer a submission loss against Aspinall
immediately afterwards. But “Drago” has since racked up four
consecutive wins — including three finishes — within a span of two
years. The Russian is fresh off a lopsided unanimous decision win
over former training partner Sergei
Pavlovich this past June.
Meanwhile, Gane has gone 3-2, alternating between wins and losses
since his victory over Volkov. “Bon Gamin” hasn’t fought since a
technical knockout win over Serghei
Spivac in September 2023.
Aspinall believes Volkov has significantly improved since losing to
him in 2022. “Honey Badger” also expects the Russian to have an
edge over Gane due to the difference in recent activity.
“I think it’s a 50-50 fight,” Aspinall told CasinoHawks. “I
know they fought before, and it was an absolute stinker—the first
one was terrible. Since I fought Volkov, he’s improved a lot. He’s
changed his training situation, and Gane has been inactive. Gane
seems to fight once a year against opponents who suit him quite
well. It’s hard to say; Volkov has been very active. I think he
fought four or five times since we fought a couple of years ago,
which is a lot for an elite heavyweight. I still think it’s a close
fight, though, because I believe Gane is very good and smart, but I
think it’ll be a lot closer than the last one, and I wouldn’t be
surprised if Volkov pulled it off.”