A big heavyweight rematch is set to take place in Las Vegas this weekend as Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov meet again at UFC 310. As two of the top three ranked contenders in the division, both men could set themselves up for a title fight in the near future with a win here.
If interim champion Tom Aspinall doesn’t end up getting his desired title unification bout with Jon Jones, the Brit could be targeting a clash with Gane or a rematch with Volkov, giving him a specific interest in this matchup. He has been spoken about as a potential opponent for Gane multiple times and the Brit has already beaten Volkov when they faced off in London two years ago.
If that didn’t provide the interim champion with enough to work off, there’s also the five rounds that Gane and Volkov have already spent with each other inside the Octagon back in 2021 where “Gon Gamin” won a one-sided unanimous decision. In a recent episode of Tom Aspinall’s Fight Lab on TNT Sports, he broke down the fight.
Aspinall specifically drew attention to one aspect of the contest which he thinks will be crucial on Saturday night. With the height and reach advantage that he brings to the table, Volkov is very effective at walking opponents down but the speed and footwork of Gane are his best attributes.
Whoever is able to win this battle will be able to dictate where the fight takes place and therefore, will likely get their hand raised in Aspinall’s opinion.
“The feet are very important in this fight in my opinion. When I say the feet, I’m not talking about the kicking as such, I’m talking about the positioning of their feet. If Volkov can get him going backwards and keep him against the fence, he can just use that length and tee off on him with the kicks and the punches like we’re seeing there. On the contrary to that, Cyril Gane is really good moving backwards, that’s his strength is he lures his opponents in and moves off on them angles so it’s just an interesting matchup of styles and we love heavyweight fights.”
