UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has shared his perspective on why Ciryl Gane presents a significant challenge for Alex Pereira.
“Poatan” recently relinquished his light heavyweight title to pursue a historic three-division championship. He is now set to face Ciryl Gane on June 14 at UFC 299 for the interim heavyweight championship. The winner of this bout is expected to unify the title with Aspinall later this year.
Aspinall’s Analysis of the Gane vs. Pereira Bout
Tom Aspinall, currently recovering from eye surgery, detailed his reasoning for believing Gane will emerge victorious over Pereira on June 14.
Speaking on the Fight Your Corner Podcast, Aspinall suggested that a key factor in Alex Pereira’s many knockout victories in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions is his significant size advantage over his opponents. However, Aspinall highlighted that Gane, having faced numerous elite heavyweights, is accustomed to absorbing heavy shots and persisting.
Aspinall also noted Gane’s superior footwork and distance management compared to many fighters in the lighter divisions. He anticipates that Gane will win the fight by decision.
“A big factor in why Alex is knocking these guys out is because he’s a lot bigger than them. A guy like Ciryl Gane is used to taking punches from big heavyweights. He didn’t get hurt by Francis Ngannou for five rounds, and he’s one of the biggest punchers in the division.
Also, Alex Pereira looks very good when he fights light heavyweights or middleweights who don’t move a lot. Ciryl Gane is a massive heavyweight who moves a lot, moves really, really well, is really fluid on his feet, in and out, judges the distance really well, and stuff like that. So stylistically, I think it’s a good matchup for Gane… Tough one to call. But I’d say Gane by points. I think he’s just going to move too much for him and beat him on points.”
During the same interview, Aspinall also pointed out that Ciryl Gane has a vulnerability to leg kicks. He suggested that if Pereira aims for a knockout, he would need to impede Gane’s movement with powerful calf kicks from the outset.