Apparently, Jon Jones isn’t the only one ducking fighters in the UFC. According to one of his former opponents, the current interim champion of the division Tom Aspinall refused a fight with him. But who is this fighter? None other than ‘Bon Gamin’, Ciryl Gane, who claimed that he was supposed to fight the Englishman a long time ago. So, what went wrong? Why didn’t Aspinall vs. Gane materialize yet?

That’s exactly what the famed MMA reporter, Ariel Helwani asked ‘Bon Gamin’ on the MMA Hour. According to the Frenchman, he was trying to book a fight against Aspinall back in March 2024, “But it was not possible because he [said], ‘I refuse [to fight] him in September’. But the UFC didn’t propose [to] me any contract with him.’ And like I say, I’m looking for the best for me and every time he’s [in] front of me. And this is exactly what we do now. [He’s] just looking front to [the] have him.” 

Social media also had a role to play in the situation. Had Gane asked Aspinall out for a fight, things might have been different today. Nevertheless, Dana White and Co. know it pretty well that Gane vs. Aspinall was a fight to make. He continued, “But UFC knew this is a fight what we’re looking for.” But would it be a banger? Well, ‘Bon Gamin’ certainly likes to think so when Helwani suggested it would indeed be a big fight. He claimed, “Oh, yeah. For sure. We were talking about this fight from a long time ago.” 

It didn’t take much time for the French mixed martial artist’s words to travel to social media. When Championship Rounds’ Instagram account shared the conversation between Helwani and Ciryl Gane, the fight fans took over the comments section to reveal their thoughts. Let’s see what they had to say.

Does the MMA world think Tom Aspinall is ducking Ciryl Gane?

As soon as Gane’s words began going viral, the fighting community started casting its doubts on Tom Aspinall. The thought of the British fighter refusing a fight didn’t quite sit well with fight fans. One fan exclaimed, “Tom is ducking omg.” Another fan wrote, “Tom a duck? No way…” A few fans even brought Jon Jones into the picture. Reflecting on the dominant performance of the heavyweight champion against Gane at UFC 285, one fan commented, “Seems like Tom is ducking lol Jones annihilated Cyril.”

A handful of fans believe ‘Honey Badger’ simply didn’t want any beef with the Frenchman. One fan quoted, “Tom doesn’t want that Cyril smoke at all.” Meanwhile, a few others asked the Brit, “Tom why you scared buddy?” On the other hand, some declared that there was no reason for Aspinall to go up against Gane. A fan commented, “Tom is the champion, he has no reason to fight anyone else until a fight with Jones is arranged.”

Back in 2023, before becoming the interim champion, Tom Aspinall called Gane out quite a few times. However, ‘Bon Gamin’ was more focused on getting the championship belt and fighting Jones rather than Aspinall. Talking to Helwani, Gane had said, “We’re going to do this fight, but now, my fight is not this one. I just want the belt and I want to go to the belt.”

Needless to say, the fighting community remembered the Frenchman’s words. One fan wrote, “Tom literally accepted a fight with him in July and he rejected it.” Meanwhile, another fan pointed out, “Tom wanted to fight Gane many times before he became interim champ but Gane refused. Now Tom has the real belt you wanna fight him lol.” In that light, a few others believed that it was always Gane who ducked, not Aspinall. The comment read, “Cap bro Tom has been calling out Gane forever and Gane has always ducked.”

Ciryl Gane is set to fight Alexander Volkov at UFC 310 and will try to reclaim the confidence that he seemingly lost against Jones. On the other hand, Aspinall is slated to fight the heavyweight champion and try to take over the HW throne, although that fight hasn’t been booked yet. Perhaps later in 2025, we might get to see the clash between Gane and Aspinall. 

Do you think Tom Aspinall is ducking Ciryl Gane? What do you think of the Frenchman’s claims, despite the Englishman calling him out in 2023? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.