UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall shared his prediction for who will win the interim title bout between Ciryl Gane and Alex Pereira.
With Aspinall out of commission due to an eye injury he suffered in his fight with Gane last October, the promotion booked an interim heavyweight belt between Gane and Pereira in the meantime. It will serve as the co-main event of UFC Freedom 250, which takes place on June 14 at the White House in Washington, D.C.
Tom Aspinall Shares Prediction for Gane vs. Pereira
Speaking on the “Fight Your Corner” podcast, Aspinall shared his prediction for who he thinks will win between Gane and Pereira next month. Although it’s admittedly a difficult fight to predict, Aspinall said he’s leaning toward Gane to get his hand raised.
“The Gane and Pereira fight, I struggle to pick a winner at this stage, to be honest. I want revenge (against Gane), of course, but there’s an argument to say that me and Pereira would be a bigger fight. I don’t know. They’re both big fights, aren’t they? I would say Gane by points. I think he’s just going to move too much for him and beat him on points, I think,” Aspinall said (via MMAjunkie.com).
According to the latest betting odds, the matchup is a literal coin flip as both fighters are -110 each in what is a true Pick ’em fight. Therefore, Aspinall’s difficulty in picking a winner is warranted, as even the betting public has no consensus for who they are backing in this bout.
Ciryl Gane Has Advantage as Natural Heavyweight
One of the reasons why Aspinall is leaning toward Gane is that he is a natural heavyweight who already has experience fighting in the weight class. As good as Pereira is, he is moving up to the UFC’s heaviest weight class, where he isn’t used to taking punches from big heavyweights like Gane is, something which the Brit believes gives the Frenchman a slight edge over the Brazilian in this bout.
“(Pereira) carries a lot of power at light heavy and middle, but he’s also fighting a lot smaller guys whose punch resistance is a lot less. So, in my opinion, a big factor of why he’s knocking these guys out is ’cause he’s a lot bigger than them. A guy like Ciryl Gane who’s used to taking punches off big, big heavyweights – like he didn’t get hurt off Francis Ngannou for five rounds, which is one of the biggest punchers in the division. I don’t know if his punch resistance will be as good at heavyweight,” Aspinall said.
“Also, Alex Pereira is 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 well. Really, 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. That being said, Gane doesn’t like leg kicks. He doesn’t fare well against leg kicks. He’s a good kicker, but if someone kicks him, his leg kick defense isn’t great. Alex Pereira, unbelievable leg kicker. … That’s how he sets up the left hook, is he kicks them to the calf, stops the movement a little bit, then comes in with the left hook.”
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