Fight Preview
Coach Conversation | Tom Aspinall vs Ciryl Gane
Standout Striking Coach Sean Madden Helps Break Down Saturday’s Heavyweight Title Fight
Championship fights are layered battles, with the competitors stepping into the Octagon operating at the highest level in their respective weight classes. Breaking down how these pivotal contests could possibly play out is a challenging venture, which is why UFC staff writer E. Spencer Kyte has enlisted the help of some of the sharpest minds in the sport to help dissect these critical contests.
With Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane ready to do battle with the undisputed UFC heavyweight title hanging in the balance, Kyte called upon Easton Muay Thai striking coach Sean Madden to discuss the matchup between the skilled big men.
Best Trait of Each Fighter
Kyte: Alright Coach — what’s the best trait of Tom Aspinall and what’s the best trait of Ciryl Gane?
Madden: Let’s get into it!
I think, especially for a heavyweight, Aspinall has high Fight IQ, and I think he has great eyes. Going back and looking at all the finishes he’s had — for some heavyweights, you could attribute that to being a heavyweight, exchanging, and it being a roll of the dice, but his finishes are very calculated. He’s very precise with his shots, he knows what he’s looking for and you can see that in his finishes.
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None of them really come by surprise necessarily, and I think that is rare in that weight class, so for him to possess that trait is really special and what has propelled him to this point so far.
Tom Aspinall Pre-Fight Interview | UFC 321
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Tom Aspinall Pre-Fight Interview | UFC 321
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Kyte: And what about the challenger?
Madden: For Ciryl, man, I’m a big fan of his movement, his ability to move at that size is very impressive. This is obviously going to play more into the path to victory for him, but I think he moves very well for a heavyweight.
I think something he also does very well is his ability to control the tempo of the fight too, and for this one, slowing the fight down, taking away Tom’s explosiveness, either with his movement or by controlling his hands, controlling the wrist are things I think could play a big role in this fight too. His athleticism for a heavyweight — his angles, his footwork — I think all of that is special for his size and his ability to control the tempo, which to me is a really, really important thing because if you can control distance and tempo, you’re largely able to dictate the fight itself, and I think that will play a factor for sure.
UFC 321 Full Fight Card Preview
Kyte: With Aspinall, I agree that he’s super-smart and really does read things well in terms of not only when to go, but also — I keep seeing some of the highlights from his finishes and the thing that jumps out to me is that he hurts you and instantly recognizes that you’re hurt; there is no hiccup, no moments where he’s not aware you’re hurt and allows you time to recover.
Is that something that can be trained and taught, or is that just an innate thing?
Madden: I think it can be trained to some degree, if his that’s something his coaches are intentionally reminding him of in training, but that’s also really difficult, right? It’s not like you’re looking to hurt your training partners, so how do you train that moment specifically?
I think if the team is able to bring awareness to it throughout training and he keeps that at the forefront of his mind, that definitely helps, but I think a large part of that is just who Tom is; for as athletic as he is, he’s also very cerebral, and he’s able to identify those moments and capitalize on them.
He’s said it in past interviews, too, right? We all know about the two types of guys: the guys that perform well in the gym and not so well in the fight, and then the guys that don’t perform as well in the gym, and they shine under the lights. I think when Tom gets in the Octagon and the lights come on, that heightens his senses and his awareness to situations like that too, and those are the guys you want on your team.
Kyte: I also think — and this is something he’s talked about when I’ve spoken with him as well — that while some of it is absolutely an IQ thing, I don’t know that it’s necessarily a Fight IQ thing as much as it’s just understanding the reality of what you’re dealing with.
Order UFC 321: Aspinall vs Gane
He talks all the time about “at heavyweight it doesn’t take a lot; anybody can get anybody,” and I think operating with that understanding, there is a different kind of urgency to the way he fights. It’s not that he’s out there hurried and rushing and making mistakes as a result, but he understands the urgency of “let’s get this done and get the hell outta here as quickly as I can in order to make sure we end up on the wrong side of things.”
It's just the logic part of it. I think he gets it more than most people.
Ciryl Gane Pre-Fight Interview | UFC 321
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Ciryl Gane Pre-Fight Interview | UFC 321
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Madden: That’s a great point! It’s the saying, “You gotta hurry, but don’t be reckless,” and he understands that at that weight, one punch can change everything, regardless of skill level.
Kyte: And then with Gane, I agree with you that he has that great ability to dictate the pace, but is there — I worry at times with him that sometimes there isn’t enough urgency, almost; he’s just content being really good at things.
Madden: That’s a great point, too, and that’s the other side of that coin is that sometimes it’s almost too lackadaisical, right? With that mindset, you have to be really careful with someone that is almost like a ticking time bomb in Aspinall. If there are moments where you’re too relaxed, someone with Tom’s power and explosiveness and athleticism is really going to make you pay for that.
FULL FIGHTS: Gane vs Volkov 2 | Aspinall vs Blaydes 2
It’s gonna be really interesting.
Path to Victory
Kyte: Okay, so what does each guy need to do in order to get the job done?
Madden: For Tom, based on what we’ve seen, it’s smart for him to put some pressure on early. If I’m in his corner, I’m telling him to stand in a range that makes Ciryl uncomfortable — it’s not necessarily inside the pocket, but it’s one step inside kicking range — and he has to know that any time he picks his leg up, he’s in danger of getting counter-punched on one leg or the threat of a takedown exists.
It's not necessarily being all the way in…
Kyte: But you’re in enough that it makes him uncomfortable, makes him think a little.
Madden: And there is an art to it because if you do it the wrong way, and you have someone that can be a master of allowing you to come into that space and then punishing you for being there too. If you’re not doing it the right way, you have a guy like Ciryl who can turn on an angle, control your wrists on the way in and step out, or hit you on the way in and move, and then it looks like you’re following this person around the cage and getting hit as a result.
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It's a really interesting battle of the geography in the cage, but I think if Tom executes the majority of his game plan at that range, he has the ability to use all of his tools to win the fight wherever he chooses, right? He can counter from there, he can lead there, he can initiate the grappling from there, and we know he has the ability to finish the fight on the feet or on the ground.
I do think the spacing in the cage and where he decides to fight is going to be a big piece of his path to victory on Saturday.
Kyte: And what about for Gane?
Madden: It’s the opposite, right? He wants to keep a bit more space, keep himself off the fence. I foresee a lot of hand control, grabbing the wrist — which he’s done a lot in his previous fights — and if I’m in his corner, I’m telling him to throw a lot of snappy kicks; not necessarily committing all of his weight to it and giving Tom his hips when he kicks, but making sure that he’s keeping Tom’s hands occupied.
UFC 321 Countdown | Tom Aspinall vs Ciryl Gane
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UFC 321 Countdown | Tom Aspinall vs Ciryl Gane
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If he’s open-stance, if he’s southpaw — and we know Ciryl likes to switch and has the ability to hit from both sides — I’m throwing the high kick and keeping Tom’s hands where they need to be. I’m throwing snap kicks up the middle, but not with the hips. I’m throwing a lot of oblique kicks, which is something you want to throw to make explosive guys a little more hesitant on their step in, attacking that knee line and the quad and the hips, just to make him hesitate a little when he’s thinking about exploding into shots. If Tom is crashing in, I’m looking to meet with elbows and using my frames to get off, create more space.
Can it be done? Yeah, it can be done, but it’s a much harder game plan to execute over 25 minutes than Tom’s that we talked about, but there is a path to victory; you just have to pitch a nearly perfect game for 25 minutes, and that can be incredibly difficult, especially in a weight class like heavyweight.
WATCH: Tom Aspinall - Road To Undisputed Documentary
Kyte: So I talked to “Parrumpa” (Marcos DaMatta) for the strawweights, and what we ended up getting to is that they’re both great grapplers, but Mackenzie (Dern) has got an extra path to victory. She can win on the ground by controlling the fight and it being one of those positional battles on the ground with not a lot going on, but she’s also got some power and can swing a little bit, whereas Virna doesn’t necessarily have that in her tool kit.
Does this feel similar to you in that if they stay standing, it’s a competitive fight, but if we get to the ground, Tom has an edge?
Madden: Yes, 100 percent, and that’ll play into my X factor…
Kyte: Well then let’s get there; let’s do it.
X Factor
Kyte: Okay, so what’s the X-factor here?
Madden: It’s the ground game.
We know Tom is phenomenal there, and it can be either submission or ground-and-pound, which, the fact that he’s able to present both threats there is really impressive.
UFC 321 COUNTDOWN: Aspinall vs Gane | Jandiroba vs Dern 2 | Full Episode
Ciryl and his team have had to know for a long time that they were gonna fight Tom, and this is a possibility. His fight with Jon (Jones) was probably embarrassing for him and his team, to lose in that fashion, and that’s something you’re gonna wanna shore up as much as possible if you’re gonna be champion of any division. Again, he’s had some time to prepare for this, so it will be really interesting to see what his scrambling ability looks like, his ability to reduce the damage Tom inflicts on the ground, and his ability to get up.
I’m hoping, as a coach, that his ability has improved. It’s been a while, and I would be very disappointed if it’s still mediocre or below, but we’ll find out on Saturday. So the X factor for both of them is going to be — a fight is going to the ground at some point, so what is Ciryl gonna bring on that side to see if he can neutralize Tom’s game at all.
Kyte: To that end, if you’re Tom or if you’re Andy, his dad, in his corner, do you come out and just check straight away? I would be tempted, given how he had nothing to offer Francis Ngannou and Jon was able to just peel him to the ground, I would be tempted to come out with the “let’s just see straight away if this guy has done the work.”
He looked pretty panicked against Serghei Spivac when he went to lock up with him and take him to the ground, and he didn’t do great on the canvas with Volkov either. It’s the path of least resistance because he’s not knocking you out off his back — I’m not saying you sell out, but I would be tempted to go out, change levels, and just see.
Madden: A hundred percent! As a striking coach, the easiest one for me to relate this to is that if we’re fighting a guy that has a history of taking low kicks, taking damage from low kicks — maybe he’s been finished once or twice by low kicks — what are we doing in the first round? We’re gonna fight out what his low kick defense looks like and go from there, but let’s ask some questions early in this fight.
READ: MMA Coach Breaks Down Jandiroba vs Dern 2
Has he gotten better here? Is he the same? Is it worse? The way you find out is you try it in the first round, see what the response is, and even if — let’s just propose a scenario where he attempts to take Ciryl down in the first round, Gane defends it for some reason: okay, great!
Now we have an idea that his defensive wrestling has improved, but the potential of Tom changing levels and looking for the takedown is going to exist in Ciryl’s mind for the next 22 minutes as well, right? Even if Tom isn’t successful on the first takedown, he got an answer to what he was asking, and it’s still on Ciryl’s mind.
Kyte: He got valuable information, and Gane is now thinking more aggressively about “Maybe this guy wants to just wrestle” and then as we always talk about, those fractional seconds are difference-makers.
Madden: That’s exactly right.
One Coaching Curiosity
Kyte: What’s the curiosity point for you in this one? What piques your interest here?
Madden: Selfishly, I need to see more of Tom Aspinall.
Kyte: (bursts out laughing because same)
The champ's power speaks for itself 😤@AspinallMMA looks to keep his 100% finish rate at #UFC321!
— UFC (@ufc) October 22, 2025
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Madden: Listen — at least show me 15 minutes, Tom! That obviously heavily relies on CIryl’s performance, not Tom’s, but I don’t even say it in a way where — sometimes we talk about people when we haven’t see a lot of them and we tend to be skeptical, pessimistic about what they could offer later in a fight.
For someone like Tom, I’m so high on his potential that I’m excited to see things that he hasn’t uncovered in his game yet; the different layers to his game.
UFC 321 Full Fight Card Preview
Kyte: Right. It’s not “I don’t know if he can do this for longer” or “how’s he gonna hold up?” as much as it’s “I wanna see what Second Round Tom does or how Third Round Tom fights.”
Madden: Is he gonna get tired if it goes later? Yeah, probably, he’s a f****** heavyweight! Ciryl has shown he can go five rounds, but it’s a slower tempo kind of fight, and so I’m just really curious to see deeper layers to Tom’s game, if we get to that point.
Obviously, that’s a big if, but man, even if we could get 10 minutes outta him, 12 minutes outta him.
Kyte: At this point, if we could get eight…
Bon Gamin has no shortage of finishes in the UFC 👊@Ciryl_Gane is heading into Saturday with gold on his mind! #UFC321 pic.twitter.com/PV33JfERVs
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2025
Madden: I’ll take eight! It would be a good night if we could get eight, so more than anything, I’m excited to see that.
And then for Ciryl, again, let’s see what the ground game looks like. It’s been a long time, this has to be have been a heavy focus — his wrestling, his grappling — but something I think is interesting with Gane is that for how large and athletic he is, he doesn’t have many one-punch or two-punch knockouts to end fights.
Kyte: No, he doesn’t. He’s a builder. He’s a get you hurt, gets you on the ropes, and builds to that finish.
Madden: So for someone with his physique, his athleticism, there is some disconnect to me that he’s not able to hurt people really bad with his punches, and I do think part of that is his ability to move so well too — he tends to float around.
You look at a Cory Sandhagen…
Kyte: I was just going to say that exact name! It’s Cory, where you’re moving around so much that you’re not sitting down enough to generate the power to really put people down.
Madden: So if I’m his coaches, with someone with that physique and athleticism, I’m trying to do my best to capitalize on him making his hands a bit more of a threat. So I’ll be interested to see if they’ve worked on this a little too.
You can add it into the fight — it doesn’t have to be the whole fight — but you want to add that in, because the less you have that, the more confident someone like Tom Aspinall is coming in and exchanging hands with you because he knows there is a smaller chance of him getting hurt in those exchanges.
So I’ll be paying attention to see if they’ve done some of their homework to improve certain areas of Ciryl’s game.
Kyte: I’m really curious to see what kind of happens if the first exchanges, the first round doesn’t go the way Gane wants? Is there a little PTSD there from his first two shots at undisputed gold? Those are his only two losses, and I wonder if some of that just kicks in.
He feels to me like a guy that dominated so much that he kind of hasn’t quite gotten to his full potential, and I don’t know if he’s ever going to get there because it feels like there is now this disconnect, and I wonder if that pops back up if the first exchange, the first couple interactions go poorly?
Order UFC 321: Aspinall vs Gane
Even if he survives a takedown early, is there still a little “this is what happens to me in these spots” and he ends up being less aggressive, less urgent, and becomes either more of a target or more apt to stay away and not engage, I’m very curious to see if that comes into play.
He was the favorite in both of those fights. The expectation was “this is the guy that is going to win and carry the division forward,” and now he’s been overtaken by Tom, and Tom’s the one walking in with the belt, Tom’s the one everyone expects to lead the division.
Does that motivate you or give you the out to be okay being No. 2?
Made in Manchester 🐝@AspinallMMA reacts to his new shorts!
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Madden: That is a great point! It’s gonna be really interesting to see how he faces that scenario on Saturday.
Kyte: And it’s okay to be No. 2 — it’s a massive accomplishment being No. 2 in the world in a division — but if you’re happy with that, I wanna know, in advance, because it changes my approach as a coach, as someone studying you, breaking you down, forecasting your career.
Madden: Yeah man, it’s pretty black and white: have we accomplished our goal of being the heavyweight champion? Check the box yes or no. If we haven’t, why are you not in the gym putting all of your time and energy in that, because that’s what you say you want.
That’s a great point. That’s a really great point.
Kyte: This is his third chance to be the best, and he’s facing another ultra-dangerous guy — if you wanna be the best, I wanna see it on Saturday night.
It’s gonna be interesting.
Madden: Well, we’ll find out on Saturday. That’s the really nice thing about fighting.
Kyte: It is the nice thing about fighting; and it’s generally pretty quick. It’s not like baseball on Monday night where I gotta watch into the seventh inning before the Jays get ahead and then sweat out two more to make sure they hold on!
Madden: Such a great sport!
Kyte: The best! Thanks for doing this.
UFC 321: Aspinall vs Gane took place live from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on October 25, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!