Tom Aspinall recalls following Khabib Nurmagomedov's advice while explaining takedown attempt on Ciryl Gane

Tom Aspinall (left) recalls following Khabib Nurmagomedov
Tom Aspinall (left) recalls following Khabib Nurmagomedov's (right) advice at UFC 321. [Images courtesy: Getty Images]

Tom Aspinall recently addressed his seemingly unsuccessful takedown attempts on Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 and recalled following Khabib Nurmagomedov's pre-fight advice.

Ad

Aspinall and Gane threw down in a heavyweight title fight in October in Abu Dhabi. The fight unexpectedly ended in the first round after Gane's brutal eye pokes left Aspinall unable to continue, and the referee ruled the bout a no-contest.

In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Aspinall addressed the eye pokes and explained that the foul wasn't committed during a failed takedown attempt. Recalling trying to follow Nurmagomedov and his team's pre-fight advice, he said:

Ad
"The first poke was pretty hard as well. I wasn’t really shooting for the takedown with that. Did you see my chat with Khabib before? Khabib was basically saying the same thing my team was telling me, I need to mix it up between striking and takedowns. So I was mixing it up, I wasn’t really committing to a full takedown."
Ad

Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more

Ad

When Tom Aspinall received advice from Khabib Nurmagomedov before his UFC 321 title fight

Backstage before Tom Aspinall’s UFC 321 title fight, Khabib Nurmagomedov advised the Brit to mix his fighting skills to put pressure on Ciryl Gane.

Nurmagomedov was notably present at UFC 321 to corner his cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov, for his bantamweight fight against Mario Bautista. In a video (via @ChampRDS on X), Nurmagomedov can be heard telling Aspinall:

"Sometimes you use boxing separately, wrestling separately. When you use everything together: wrestling, pressure, boxing, everything [It will be tough on Gane]. Because [Gane] doesn't have this ability. He is a striker, he moves [well], he has good foot work... but when you use your punches and then takedown, it's going to be tough for him."

Quick Links

Edited by Nishant Zende.
Sportskeeda logo
Close menu
WWE
WWE
NBA
NBA
NFL
NFL
MMA
MMA
Tennis
Tennis
NHL
NHL
Golf
Golf
MLB
MLB
Soccer
Soccer
F1
F1
WNBA
WNBA
down arrow icon
More
bell-icon Manage notifications