Tom Aspinall is talking about a comeback. DAZN reported Thursday that the former UFC heavyweight champion has shared an update on his planned return to the Octagon, nine days before two other men fight for the belt he gave up.
The timing matters. Earlier the same day, Athlon published a piece (carried by Yahoo Sports) pointing out that Aspinall hadn’t offered any recent word on when he’d compete again. Then he did. The specifics of his recovery timeline weren’t in the material available to us, so I won’t hand you a return date. I’m not guessing about a man’s eye.
That eye is the whole story. Aspinall was poked during his heavyweight title fight with Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26, 2025. The fight ended in a no-contest. The complications dragged on for more than a year, and he eventually vacated the title.
Gane picked it up. On Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden, the Frenchman defends the undisputed heavyweight title against Josh Hokit in the UFC 334 main event. Hokit earned the shot by knocking out Derrick Lewis at UFC Freedom 250 on the White House lawn. Since then he has released a diss track, under the name J-Word, that takes shots at Gane, Jon Jones, Alex Pereira and Aspinall, including a line about Aspinall’s eye injury. That’s a bold choice from a guy who might be standing across from him next.
Aspinall has already made his pitch for a Gane rematch, and he isn’t fussy about where it happens. Reacting to Gane’s UFC Freedom 250 performance in a vlog, he said: “You’re up for it? I’ll do that. Let me know. I don’t mind. I’ll go to Paris. I’ll be there.” Both men have floated France as the venue.
The official UFC rankings still have Aspinall at No. 1 behind Gane, ahead of Alexander Volkov, Pereira, Sergei Pavlovich and Hokit at No. 5. The rest of the queue is getting loud, though. Volkov beat Rizvan Kuniev at UFC 333 and has won seven of his last eight. His only loss in that run was a split decision to Gane in December 2024 that Dana White himself has acknowledged was unjust. Pereira, who lost to Gane in his heavyweight debut, is expected to face Pavlovich at UFC 335 in December, and a big knockout there could push either man up the line.
The UFC has a track record of holding a spot for champions who vacate because of injury. Georges St-Pierre and Dominick Cruz both got their shots back. If Aspinall’s update ends with a doctor’s clearance, he should walk straight into a fight with whoever leaves the Garden holding the belt, and honestly, Gane or Hokit, I like both of those fights.
My take: Aspinall didn’t lose that belt to anybody. A finger in the eye took it, and the UFC should treat him accordingly. If he’s cleared, he’s next, and Volkov gets the courtesy call after. If he isn’t, Volkov has earned it outright, and nobody should let a Pereira highlight reel jump him in line. We’ll know who Aspinall is chasing on Nov. 14.
