Featured Image Credit: UFC
Topics: UFC, Tom Aspinall, MMA
Ben McCrum
UFC fans were shocked to see what Tom Aspinall looks like ahead of his heavyweight title defence against Ciryl Gane.
Newly-crowned UFC heavyweight champion Aspinall is set to make the first defence of his title when he faces France's Ciryl Gane inside the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Saturday night.
The fight will be the long-awaited return of the Englishman, after months of online drama with former champion Jon Jones led to Aspinall spending 15 months outside the octagon.
In his last bout, Aspinall avenged the only loss on his UFC record, which came via freak injury, by knocking Curtis Blaydes out in the first round back in July last year.
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His long spell away from the cage left many fans wondering how Aspinall would shape up for his comeback fight, and some are concerned.
With Aspinall's fight taking place in Abu Dhabi, it will be on shown live at prime time in the UK, with the ring walks for the main event expected around 21:30.
Both this, and the fact that it is his first title defence, mean that there will perhaps be more eyes on Aspinall than any of his previous fights, and some fans have already expressed concerns about his preparation.
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Sharing a photo comparing Aspinall's physique ahead of the fight to Gane's one fan wrote on X: "Ciryl Gane has an insane physique."
While another posted another photo of Aspinall, joking: "Someone said he got that ‘toddler build’ and now I can’t stop seeing it."
And another worried fan suggested: "Ngl getting a feeling Jon really f***** with Aspinall's career cause holy s*** he looks like he was not on a good diet for the last few years lmao."
Thankfully, the fans likely have no need to worry as last month the heavyweight champion shared details of his InBody scan report, showing just how impressive his physique really is.
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The Brit weighed in at 115.7 kg but amazingly only had 11.2% body fat, with 59 kg of his weight being muscle mass.
His total score came in at 112/100 with a basal metabolism of nearly 2600 calories a day.
How to watch watch UFC in the UK
Brits can watch UFC on TNT Sports via discovery+, which can be purchased as a ‘streaming add-on’ to your existing TV package (for Prime Video users that’s £30.99 a month or for Sky users that’s £31 a month).
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It’s also included in selected BT EE TV packages from £18 per month.