After months of speculation, fans finally know what the next undisputed heavyweight title fight is and when it will take place.
Tom Aspinall will defend the belt against Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi, as Dana White announced in a recent video.
It became clear that the UFC went in this direction after two other potential opponents for Aspinall were linked to the same card.
There is some history between Aspinall and Gane that should ensure an interesting structure until October 25.
That said, there was another option on the table if the UFC had chosen to hit while the iron is hot and goes in a different direction.
Joe Rogan is said to have booked Derrick Lewis to face Tom Aspinall if the decision was up to him
As a former interim champion and dual title champion, Ciryl Gane is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the heavyweight division.
That does not mean that fans were not somewhat surprised to see him the first shot at Tom Aspinall after his controversial victory over Alexander Volkov in December, who did not believe Dana White that he earned.
Joe Rogan gave his opinion about the recent announcement of the fight during an episode of the Joe Rogan experience where he was accompanied by Khalil Rountree Jr.
The old UFC commentator said that if he was in charge of the books, he would have put another opponent in the UFC 321 slot.
Derrick Lewis has always been loved by the fans and he showed exactly why that is with his recent victory over Tallison Teixeira who was followed by another classic party and interview after the fight.
Lewis may not be on a win -streak that has seen him beat a top candidate, but 'The Black Beast' will always let people talk when he enters the octhoek.
“If I were running things, I would have set up the Derrick Lewis fight with Aspinall,” said Rogan. “I could say that Ciryl Gane is forgotten for the time being. Derrick has just had this big knockout victory, who is more popular than Derrick? Who is more loved by fans than Derrick? Put it up.”
Khalil Rountree argues for why Ciryl Gane is logical as the first challenger of Tom Aspinall
Although Derrick Lewis would have been a nice option to put in the challenger spot, the selection of Ciryl Gane seemed to be the choice that the UFC would always make.
Between their history, the style matchup and the status of both men, Tom Aspinall is perhaps the biggest fight that could have put together the promotion on heavyweight.
Khalil Rountree made this case during the podcast and outlined that 'Bon Gamin' is a valuable star for promotion as a big name in France.
“From, I think, a business point of view, it is logical to use Ciryl because of everything he does in France. Moviester, do you know what I mean? He now has the entire country behind him with the UFC that is expanding internationally, it is like a British icon. Ciryl is a French icon.”