If there’s ever a reason why an athlete would decline a UFC fight, it’s due to the threat of litigation from the biggest streaming site in the world.
As Tom Aspinall prepares to defend his interim heavyweight title against Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes this weekend in Manchester, the French contender’s veteran coach fired back at claims his pupil has been ‘ducking’ the division’s most dangerous fighters; in favor of filming a movie for the streaming giant.
Ciryl Gane sends warning to Tom Aspinall ahead of UFC 304 title rematch
Aside from undisputed heavyweight champion Jon Jones, the British juggernaut has also been vocal about his frustration with former interim title holder Ciryl Gane, who reportedly turned down multiple fight offers in favor of filming a movie back home in France.
“He might really want to be an actor, that might be his thing,” Aspinall vented to The Mac Life in May, teasing that whilst he wishes Gane the best of luck in becoming “the French Arnold Schwarzenegger,” he’s moving on to bigger and better matchups.
In turn, Gane would argue via French outlet La Sueur that Aspinall “only accepts my fight when I cannot,” and that it was “no problem, we’ll meet each other” in the UFC after his movie obligations wrapped up.
Despite the French counterattack, the court of public opinion is still firmly on the side of Aspinall over the dispute – with coach Fernand Lopez now revealing exactly what’s on the line, should Gane withdraw from the film in order to satisfy MMA fans.
Ciryl Gane’s coach fires back at claims heavyweight ‘ducked’ Aspinall
Speaking to MMA Junkie, coach Fernand Lopez not only revealed that top contender Sergei Pavlovich had actually declined an offer to fight Gane, but that ‘Bon Gamin’ himself had turned down an offer to face Aspinall at UFC 304 this weekend.
“The first and the only time that the UFC ever offered Tom Aspinall was for July [27 at UFC 304]. Before that, people are messing up everything. Tom Aspinall is calling out Ciryl [but] when you call out someone, that doesn’t mean anything.
“I asked Mick Maynard and Hunter to put Tom Aspinall for UFC 300. But they couldn’t because Aspinall was expecting Jon Jones to accept the fight. I will not ever say Aspinall is ducking Ciryl -this guy is a monster, he’s a brave guy. But when Ciryl call him out, and he said no to Ciryl.”
Whilst Lopez noted that he “totally understands” why Aspinall decided to move on from his student in favor of a potential clash with Jones, he disagrees with the current narrative surrounding ‘Bon Gamin’.
“That’s the game but that’s not honest for him to say Ciryl ducked him… Ciryl never said no to him. He couldn’t fight and even when the UFC was asking, and I could show you the message. They were like, ‘We know that this is the frame of time that we gave you to do the movie, but still we are trying – can you let down the movie and come do this?’
“This is too much,” explained the veteran coach, before sharing that Gane was at risk of legal trouble if he had opted to withdraw from his current contract: “Ciryl will get sued and go to court and pay tons of money to Netflix to stop that movie from going.
“The only offer for UFC 300 was Pavlovich and Pavlovich said no,” claimed Lopez, reiterating that the UFC had still not made an official offer to the team for his next fight, aside from the Russian power puncher at UFC 300 as Aspinall for UFC 304.
“No one gave me any offer for [Jailton] Almeida. No one gave me any offer for Curtis Blaydes. No one gave any offer for Tom Aspinall before July [27] … Never whatsoever.
“So, people keep saying Ciryl is ducking, ducking. He’s not ducking anyone. If making a choice is ducking, then you don’t understand the game.”
Whilst we’re still waiting to hear when Gane will make his return to the octagon, he’ll likely be cageside for the UFC Fight Night event in September – headlined by Renato Moicano versus Benoit Saint-Denis.