Dana White has revealed that UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane hasn’t been automatically upgraded to undisputed title status after Tom Aspinall vacated the belt due to his ongoing eye issues.
“No, he’s still got to fight,” White told former UFC fighter Diane Belbita during an interview for SportsNet when asked if Gane was now the undisputed champ.
“Soon, very soon…” White went on to say when quizzed about when Gane’s fight for the vacant title would happen.
“We’ll see how this whole thing plays out with Aspinall. Ciryl will fight and we’ll see who becomes the champion, it’s not like this is the first time this has ever happened.
“It’s nothing new, this happens sometimes and it’s unfortunate. It’s not the best outcome but it is what it is.”
White didn’t make any mention of who Gane might fight for the belt, but even before Aspinall’s announcement this week, Alex Pereira had made it known that he’s eager to pursue an immediate rematch with ‘Bon Gamin’.
A former middleweight and light-heavyweight champion, Pereira stepped up to heavyweight back in June to fight Gane at the UFC: White House event, but clearly came off second-best, suffering a 2nd-round TKO defeat.
So, while Pereira would normally be a very desirable option for this opportunity given his star power and past accomplishments, the decisive nature of their first meeting could lead to the UFC looking elsewhere.
If so, Alexander Volkov is the current No.2 contender behind Gane after his back-to-back victories over Jailton Almeida and Waldo Cortes-Acosta over the past 12 months.
In fact, Volkov has been in the best form of his UFC career over the past few years, managing to string together a 6-1 run, with his only loss actually being by split-decision against Gane back in December of 2024.
The 3rd ranked Sergei Pavlovich could also be an option as he’s on a three-fight winning streak with victories over Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Tallison Teixeira.
And of course there’s also the 4th placed Josh Hokit, who has managed to generate more buzz than most of his heavyweight peers with his spirited scraps inside the Octagon and trash-talking antics outside of it. He’s taken his undefeated record to 10-0 in the process with four wins in the UFC so far, including victories over Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis.
There is one other potential match-up for Gane that instantly sweep aside all the others if it could be made however, and that would be the return of one of MMA’s all-time greats, Jon Jones.
That’s not just a name plucked out of thin air as Jones is currently mentoring former Olympic gold medal wrestler turned blue-chip UFC heavyweight prospect Gable Steveson, who believes that the former 205lb and heavyweight champion may be tempted to return now that the belt is up for grabs.
“I think Jon would like to come back also, maybe seeing this belt open up put another fire into him,” Steveson told RMC Sport Combat earlier this week. “Jon’s my training partner every day in Albuquerque so I’ve seen what he can still do and I know he can do it at the highest level, and maybe his time will come again and I think it will.”
Jones has the kind of star power that the heavyweight division is crying out for at this moment in time, and of course there’s also the small matter of him having easily swatted aside Gane to first win the title back in 2023.
However, it’s hard to say with any certainty whether he would actually agree to return to the Octagon, and whether the UFC would be able to strike a deal that would make it happen.
After all, Dana White’s relationship with Jones turned sour after ‘Bones’ opted to retire rather than defending the title against Aspinall, which subsequently led to the UFC CEO blocking him from returning when he expressed his desire to fight at this years UFC: White House event.
Following that the 39-year-old Jones suggested he was going to stay retired anyway because he was dealing with severe hip arthritis, yet talk of another potential comeback still persists, so it’s an option that can’t be completely ruled out.
