Media In the shadow of Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall must dominate Cyril Gane to establish legitimacy

[witt1021]

i want to see tom get dominated just to see sherdog have a meltdown. it would be glorious.
my prediction tho is that tom wins by 3round by GnP. gane just cant grapple.

 

[amok attitude]

UFC champion Tom Aspinall is in a 'tough spot' vs. Ciryl Gane, says Din Thomas

Din Thomas thinks there's a massive amount of pressure on UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

mmajunkie.usatoday.com

MMA analyst argues that Aspinall is in a tough spot in the shadow of Jon Jones that anything less than a dominating first round of Cyril Gane leaves Aspinall in a tough spot.

Aspinall has spent the better part of a year trying to prove himself as a worthy challenger for Jon Jones. Aspinall’s record leaves a lot to be desired as he’s faced mostly unknowns and has no big name wins.

His first title defense against Cyril Gane is arguably the biggest name to date that he’s faced, and this is a man that Jon Jones dispatched in round 1 without taking any damage.

Anything short of a dominant win leaves Aspinall in the shadow of Jon Jones. And godforbid if Aspinall loses, it would leave him forever in the shadow of Jones.

Aspinall is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He’s left to fill the GIANT shoes that Jon Jones left behind.

If Aspinall dispatches Gane in impression fashion, he needs to take the mic and call out Jones for July 2026 for the Trump card.

Honestly everybody considers aspinall as the champ, jones is irrelevant there in terms of accomplishments at HW. You would have said Francis, maybe, but jones only embarassed himself the last 4 years

 

[Fight Professor]

Imagine we find out Aspinall is a gas bag because this fight goes past round 1-2.

Karlos Vemola+

 

[nostradumbass]

Tom's beaten #2,3,4,7 and 8. Jon had 1 win over a favorable stylistic matchup and pulled a an old man out of several years of retirement. It's not the favorable stylistic matchup that it was for Jon, but Tom likely wins pretty easily anyway.

Only way Tom comes out looking worse is if Gane submits him or out grapples him. If they strike most of the time and Tom outstrikes him, then he looks even better for beating Gane at his own game while Jon wanted no part of it and immediately went for the TD in the first minute.

 

[HatKick]

Doesn't need to dominate. Sure, if he "only" wins a close decision the trolls will come out in droves but educated MMA fans understand that styles make fights.

Adesanya had a competitive fight with Vettori whereas Whittaker put a clinic on Vettori. Doesn't mean Whittaker is better than Izzy. Izzy destroyed Costa with ease whereas Whittaker went to war with him. What does that tell us? Not much in the grand scheme of things, other than they both have Ws over the same guys.
Gane has probably (hopefully) worked on his grappling after that humiliating loss to Jones. 2½ years is plenty of time to level up if you're a talented athlete and put in the work. At the same time Gane's striking is elite so he could definitely present some problems for Tom.

That said, Tom absolutely needs to win this fight but it doesn't have to be any particular way.

 

[Aurelian]

I'm pretty much giving Gane no chance at winning this. For a HW, he doesn't really have any KO power. The only way he wins is by a fucking fluke or Tom all of a sudden forgets how to grapple.

 

[froggyluv]

Dont really care -just looking for solid entertaining fight. Not everythings about da goatDuck

 

[laleggenda27]

Stylistically, I think Gane could present some problems for Aspinall. Gane is more technical on the feet, and Tom hasn't shown much offensive wrestling.

Aspinall is fast and powerful on the feet, so he could obviously land something big early. But if it stays standing, I expect it to be a very competitive fight. On the other hand, if Aspinall lands in top position, Gane's probably in major trouble.

 

[Thy]

probably. but i'm just glad he finally has a fight. Win or lose, i'll watch.

 

[bjjwar]

Mma math never works. Anderson dismantled Vitor Belfort and went 5 rounds with Thales Leites.

Jones KO’ed Cormier and got dismantled by Reyes who got KO’ed by frking Spann lol.

GSP beat Condit, Alves and got KO’ed by Serra.

Usually these fights where we should expect total domination turn out to be different.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Tom needs to get a finish, but not necessarily as fast as Jon did.

But yes, a decision or loss looks real bad.

 

[Mittens]

Even with Gane losing some of late, it is about as interesting a match UFC HW can provide, and should have nothing to do with Jones. Just glad the division is finally moving on after the circus Dana and Jones created.

I wanna think Gane has what it takes to make it a proper and entertaining fight. If it ends in the first with a quick submission or something, it is what it is and good on Tom. But I would prefer proper entertainment.

 

[koa pomaikai]

You didn't just use a fight from a decade ago right at the start of his career as some kind of meaningful evidence did you?. Oh dear, Tom really made the duck and his fans lose their minds. A sad sight.

Well, Jon didn’t lose his 4th pro fight.

 

[Tito Tapped]

Beating the guy Jones already beat isn't the legacy building some of you wish it was.

 

[World eater]

His first title defense against Cyril Gane is arguably the biggest name to date that he’s faced, and this is a man that Jon Jones dispatched in round 1 without taking any damage.

Jon clearly got hit in the balls before the sub.

 

[Mind Mine]

The shadow of Jon Jones? Jon is 2-0 as a HW. Aspinall already has a vastly greater Legacy as a HW champion. He even has the same record as Jon in title fights and same number of defenses.

Is Jon a bigger star? I guess he is. Does he have a greater MMA career? Yes. As a HW does he have a greater Legacy? Fuck no.

Don’t be obtuse Maude there wasn’t much a fucking peep about him before Jones name was in the equation

 

[Blastbeat]

Well, Jon didn’t lose his 4th pro fight.

Coming back from adversity builds greatness
But you wouldnt care much about that. Any opportunity to shit on Tom because of your pathological obsession over Jones.
To be honest, im not sure how you havent been flagged for fighter bashing. Tom could cure lung cancer and you'd still find a way to insult him.

 

[Kevster]

Jones retired rather than fight Aspinall, it’ll take a lot more than a close fight with Gane to top that.

 

[Alpha_T83]

All this talk is nonsense. He just needs to keep winning. He doesn't need to dominate Gane.

If Tom defends his HW title 3 more times, he breaks the HW title defense record and becomes the HW GOAT. Anyone that disagrees with this is simply incapable of extrapolating with incomplete information.

 

[koa pomaikai]

Coming back from adversity builds greatness
But you wouldnt care much about that. Any opportunity to shit on Tom because of your pathological obsession over Jones.
To be honest, im not sure how you havent been flagged for fighter bashing. Tom could cure lung cancer and you'd still find a way to insult him.

You seem to think saying Jon is better than him is insulting him. Lol, Jon is better than everyone. Just facts.