Israel Adesanya has an opponent in mind for Ciryl Gane‘s next fight following his win over Josh Hokit, and it’s pretty obvious.
Gane, in his first heavyweight title defense, took on the undefeated Hokit at UFC 334 in Madison Square Garden. Relentless pace from the 29-year-old made the Frenchman rather uncomfortable in the initial rounds as he struggled to dictate the pace of the fight.
It was only during the championship rounds, when Hokit began gassing out, that Gane began to assert his authority. Having clearly won the 4th and 5th rounds, ‘Bon Gamin’ edged out the American on all three judges’ scorecards (48-47) to secure a unanimous decision win.
Following Gane’s win, UFC middleweight Israel Adesanya broke down who the heavyweight champ should fight next. Stating a pretty obvious name in Tom Aspinall, ‘Izzy’ claimed that the 36-year-old should settle his unfinished business with the Englishman before moving on with ‘this heavyweight sh*t.
Aspinall has to be the guy next. I didn’t even think about that. But Aspinall has to. I think Aspinall and Gane have unfinished business that has to be settled before we move on with this heavyweight sh*t. But again, amazing fight.
Check out Israel Adesanya’s take below:
What Happened When Ciryl Gane and Tom Aspinall Fought in 2025?
When Ciryl Gane and Tom Aspinall first fought in 2025 at UFC 321 for the heavyweight title (with the latter being the champ), the fight ended in a no-contest even before the conclusion of the first round.
After a strong start, Gane found his flow state against Aspinall before an unfortunate double eye poke forced the latter to withdraw.
The eye poke was so severe that Aspinall has had four surgeries since then. In fact, he has not fully recovered from it, almost 13 months later.
