During Saturday’s UFC 326 broadcast, promotion officials revealed that the card, now entitled Freedom 250, would be headlined by Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje, for Topuria’s lightweight title.

The co-main event sees Alex Pereira, recently announced as vacating his light heavyweight title, take on former UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane. An interim belt will be on the line in that one.

The elephant in the room is Jon Jones, who just days ago suggested he was still negotiating to appear on the White House card. “Bones” was not mentioned by name during Saturday’s announcement, nor has White confirmed that he was part of the fight that reportedly fell through on Friday.

The remaining UFC White House (Freedom 250) fights announced on Saturday include a potential bantamweight title eliminator, as ex-135lb champ Sean O’Malley takes on rising Canadian Aiemann Zahabi.

At lightweight, Mauricio Ruffy of The Fighting Nerds faces off against “Iron” Michael Chandler, once expected to be Conor McGregor’s next opponent. Like Jones, McGregor’s name was nowhere to be found on Saturday.

Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus takes place at middleweight, while Diego Lopes kicks off the night opposite Steve Garcia.

THE OFFICIAL BOUT LIST FOR #UFCWhiteHouse

[ LIVE Sunday June 14 on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/06d09Tm0jZ

— UFC (@ufc) March 8, 2026

The card will almost certainly be talked about as much for who isn’t on it, primarily Jon Jones, as who is. In recent weeks, it has been suggested that the promotion was going a different direction with McGregor, whose star power is capable of elevating any event on its own, and might therefore be wasted on a White House event expected to already draw plenty of attention.

Jones, however, seemed like a possibility, despite Dana White’s reluctance to put the troubled star on such a big card.

Fighters like Colby Covington and Derrick Lewis, a couple of U.S. President Donald Trump’s reported favorites, were also missing from the line-up.

UFC’s Freedom 250 event takes place on June 14, 2026 on the White House lawn in Washington, D.C.

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Not for fight fans. Not for UFC heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall. And not for Ciryl Gane, who was looking to finally claim an undisputed heavyweight title after a pair of opportunities against Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones.

Instead, an accidental double eye poke left Aspinall unable to continue in the fight late in the opening round. A No Contest was the result. Fans at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi headed for the exists, fans at home no doubt fumed at paying big money for a Pay-Per-View title fight just to fizzle (at least in the U.S., that won’t be a concern next year when the UFC’s partnership with streamer Paramount+ kicks off).

For Gane (13-2, 1NC), there was anger, disappointment, but ultimately understanding, he explained while speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press on hand in Abu Dhabi.

“I think we started very well, I think we started very well. Because everybody knows his strategy, every time he starts really hard and surprises his opponent. I think we did really well, defending the takedown and touching him,” stated Gane, who had been aggressive and in Aspinall’s face in the early going, finding success with his jab. “We saw some blood on his nose. It was a really great first round, and that’s why I was maybe also I was a little bit disappointed, a little bit sad about this issue— but this is the sport.”

His immediate reaction was that “I really, really wanted to continue the fight,” added Gane. “I was first angry because I don’t want him to stop the fight. After I was disappointed, sad, and after apologetic for the people.”

Ultimately, Gane understands better than most, having been the victim of a bad eye poke himself in his fight with “The Black Beast” in 2021.

“I didn’t do it on purpose. I know what it is to have an eye poke, because when I fought Derrick Lewis, I got an eye poke, and I saw two Derrick Lewis’ for a full round. One round, during that bit of the round, and the rest of the round, I saw two Derrick Lewis. So I’m not going to say ‘yeah he’s a liar.'”

Per UFC CEO and President Dana White, the UFC hopes to run the fight back soon.

Watch the full UFC 321 post-fight press conference with Ciryl Gane above.

The post Ciryl Gane Addresses UFC 321 Eye Poke: “Didn’t Do It On Purpose” appeared first on Cageside Press.

It wasn’t the ending anyone had hoped for. The fight came to a close early to the disappointment of fans and those watching at home, an eye poke rendering Tom Aspinall unable to continue.

With Jon Jones retiring earlier this year (then immediately walking said retirement back), Aspinall had found himself upgraded to undisputed champ status. Depending on how you looked at his win over Curtis Blaydes as interim champ, UFC 321 could be seen as the start of a new heavyweight era. Oh what could have been.

An early straight left hand by Gane bloodied Aspinall’s nose, while the French heavyweight defended an early takedown. Gane’s jab was a factor early; Aspinall showed his versatility by firing off a spinning kick to the body. Aspinall continued to work his kicks, less flashy than the spinning attack, while Gane relied on his jab and some low kicks of his own. In the final minute, Aspinall landed a left hand, and fanned on a heavier left. An eye poke halted the action with less than 30 seconds on the clock, Aspinall the victim.

Bummer of a way to end a fight. #UFC321 pic.twitter.com/7lmGecu5cz

— Cageside Press (@Cagesidepress) October 25, 2025

With the doctor checking on him, Aspinall could be overheard saying he was struggling to see. Replay showed the heavyweight champ had actually been poked in both eyes simultaneously. After several minutes, Aspinall was still unable to continue, struggling with his vision, and the fight was waved off.

The crowd was not happy, nor was Aspinall at their response. “I just got poked knuckle deep in the fuckin eyeball. Why are you booing?” he questioned, noting that he hadn’t poked himself. “This is bullshit. The fight was just getting going. Complete bullshit. I’m pissed off.”

Gane, who looked to have been winning the opening frame, will no doubt want to rebook this one soon. Aspinall, meanwhile, retains his heavyweight title due to the no contest.

Official Result: Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane ends in a No Contest (accidental eye poke), Round 1, 4:35 

The post Tom Aspinall Fuming After UFC 321 Headliner Ends Early Due to Ciryl Gane Eye Poke appeared first on Cageside Press.

Both men had been considered part of the “new breed” of heavyweights for several years, with first Gane, then Aspinall, earning themselves interim titles over the years. The key difference being, in the wake of Jon Jones retirement over the summer, Aspinall had seen his title reign upgraded.

Now the undisputed champ, the long awaited France versus England showdown saw Aspinall looking to fend off the French star, who was almost certainly the biggest threat to his championship in the division, outside Jones, who has appeared more focused on a possible super-fight with Alex Pereira.

In the co-main event of UFC 321, a rematch between Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern would determine the future of the women’s strawweight division. With Weili Zhang vacating her title to pursue flyweight gold and a high-profile match-up with Valentina Shevchenko, the vacant belt was up for grabs. Dern had won the pair’s first meeting, a decision that came back in 2020. Brazil’s Jandiroba, however, was coming in on a full head of steam, having won five straight against names like Amanda Lemos and Marina Rodriguez.

Following Saturday’s UFC 321, tune in above to catch the night’s post-fight press conference.

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A match-up talked about for years has taken on new meaning, with Aspinall now the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion in the wake of Jon Jones retirement earlier this year. The specter of Jones may be overshadowing the fight, since “Bones” almost immediately changed his mind and wants on the UFC White House card next year — but it remains the best fight the promotion can put together at heavyweight at the moment.

In the co-main event, Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern meet for the second time, this time for the women’s strawweight championship vacated by Weili Zhang.

UFC 321: Aspinall vs. Gane Weigh-In Results

Main card

Heavyweight: Tom Aspinall (c) (255) vs. Ciryl Gane (247.5) –  for the UFC heavyweight championship
Women’s Strawweight: Virna Jandiroba (115) vs. Mackenzie Dern (115) – for the vacant UFC women’s strawweight championship
Bantamweight: Umar Nurmagomedov (136) vs. Mario Bautista (135.5)
Heavyweight: Alexander Volkov (261.5) vs. Jailton Almeida (237)
Light Heavyweight: Aleksandar Rakić (205) vs. Azamat Murzakanov (205.5)

Preliminary card

Lightweight: Nasrat Haqparast (156) vs. Quillan Salkilld (155.5)
Middleweight: Ikram Aliskerov (185.5) vs. Park Jun-yong (185.5)
Lightweight: Ľudovít Klein (156) vs. Mateusz Rębecki (155.5)
Lightweight: Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Matheus Camilo – cancelled
Heavyweight: Valter Walker (244) vs. Louie Sutherland (264.5)
Featherweight: Nathaniel Wood (146) vs. Jose Miguel Delgado (147)**
Heavyweight: Hamdy Abdelwahab (265) vs. Chris Barnett (261)
Flyweight: Azat Maksum (129)* vs. Mitch Raposo (125.5)
Women’s Strawweight: Jaqueline Amorim (116) vs. Mizuki Inoue (115)

* Maksum weighed in 3lbs over the non-title flyweight limit for his fight with Mitch Raposo. Maksum will pay a 30% fine, bout moves forward at a catchweight

** Delgado weighed in 1lb over the non-title featherweight limit for his fight with Nathaniel Wood

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What a state MMA, and the UFC, is in as 2025 and the ESPN era comes to a close.

Two years ago, Aspinall vs. Gane would have had fans salivating. Yet after both Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones handled Gane with seeming ease, the French heavyweight has seen some of the shine come off. Of course, an upset win over Aspinall, who graduated to undisputed champ status when Jones retired earlier this year, would thrust him right back in the spotlight. Yet in the meantime, fans still talk wistfully of a match-up between Aspinall and Jones (or, alternatively, Jones and Alex Pereira).

Still, there is little question that two of the best heavyweights on the planet will throw down in the main event of UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi this Saturday. And should Aspinall claim victory, as he so consistently has, his stock will rise that much more. Enough to distract Jones from the “Poatan” match-up? Time will tell.

UFC 321’s co-main event was met with a similar response from the MMA fanbase. A rematch between Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern, this time with strawweight gold on the line. The only problem, neither woman actually holds that title. Instead, Weili Zhang opted to vacate the strawweight championship. She’ll pursue a second belt at flyweight when she faces Valentina Shevchenko next month.

The key players from Saturday’s PPV will be on hand Thursday for the UFC 321 press conference, getting underway at 9AM ET, 6AM PT.

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The co-main event sets the stage for the soon-to-be vacated UFC strawweight title to be contested between Mackenzie Dern and Virna Jandiroba.

Aspinall (15-3) became the outright UFC heavyweight champion when former champ Jon Jones vacated the title announcing his retirement. That capped off a very long wait for Aspinall that he had hoped ended with a matchup against Jones.

That wasn’t to be so now he faces a former champion in Gane.

Gane (13-2) became the interim champion when he beat Derrick Lewis at UFC 265. He lost that title when at UFC 270 when then heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou returned to action and unified the titles.

In the co-main event the UFC strawweight title will be up for grabs between Dern and Jandiroba. With Weili Zhang vacating to challenge for Valentina Shevchenko’s flyweight title the 115 belt is primed for a new champ.

Before they even get close to the fight Aspinall and Gane met in Paris on Thursday to announce tickets on sale and take questions from the media.

Hosted by former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping the presser took place during UFC Paris fight week.

The post VIDEO: UFC 321 Press Conference Feat. Tom Aspinall And Ciryl Gane appeared first on Cageside Press.

Dana White made the announcement on social media on Tuesday evening.

Months of will they or won’t they ended when the UFC announced Jones’ retirement in June. Jones then put out a statement shortly after White revealed the news at the UFC Baku post-fight press conference.

Jones has since announced he’s re-entered the testing pool, but by then the UFC had already made Aspinall the undisputed champion.

Aspinall has been out of action since last July where he beat Curtis Blaydes via TKO at UFC 304 retaining his then-interim heavyweight title. Fans, and the UFC for that matter, expected Jones and Aspinall would square up to unify the titles. After months of negotiation Jones decided to walk away from the sport, it only lasted a couple weeks, but he dropped the title effectively.

Gane is coming off a split-decision victory over Alexander Volkov last December at UFC 310. Without much clarity to the situation it was assumed that he could be the backup plan should Aspinall-Jones fall through. Once it did it seems that ‘Bon Gamin’ got the call to step in.

The post UFC 321 Headlined By Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane appeared first on Cageside Press.

Alexandre Pantoja

The flyweight champion kept strengthening his case as the second most accomplished 125’er of all-time on Saturday when he submitted former RIZIN champion Kai Asakura in the second round. These types of performances should make Pantoja a bigger star, but the fact that he has cleaned out his division to the extent where the UFC has to go outside the promotion to find contenders also kills some of the hype and momentum they are trying to build.

‘The Cannibal’ has multiple victories over the top two contenders in his division in Brandon Royval and Brandon Moreno. If you count the exhibition bouts on The Ultimate Fighter, he sits at 9-0 against the top 10 at 125lbs. A matchup with Muhammad Mokaev could have made sense, but Mokaev was infamously not re-signed when his contract ended last July.

It also won’t be Mighty Mouse, who has declined Pantoja’s post-fight callout and is staying retired.

Royval has arguably earned his way back to a title shot with wins over Moreno and then undefeated Tatsuro Taira. However, there are a couple factors working against him besides being 0-2 against Pantoja. It’s not just that he was submitted in their first fight, it’s that we’re still only one year removed from their second meeting, and it wasn’t that close (50-45, 50-45, 49-46).

As for Moreno, his last fight with Pantoja might have been the greatest title fight in flyweight history, so no one would complain seeing it again. It was a split decision that some people thought should have gone his way. Though once again, he also has some things working against him. For one, he lost his following fight to Royval, so he should not be ahead of him in title talks, and he has only won one fight since then. With both Brandons being 1-1 against each other, a trilogy fight makes a whole lot of sense to determine who will get their next crack at Pantoja (there’s a bit of bonus matchmaking).

That leaves Pantoja with Kai Kara-France. When Kara-France was booked against Steve Erceg back in August, he was a near 2-to-1 underdog. Fans thought that with a victory, Erceg would earn a rematch with Pantoja since their fight was so competitive, with some thinking he had won it. But the Kiwi completely destroyed those plans with his stunning first-round KO of ‘Astroboy.’ Yes, this represents Kara-France’s only win in over two years, but with the state the division is currently in, that is enough. Pantoja defeated him on TUF, so this is a chance for Kara-France to get some revenge almost 10 years in the making.

Pantoja’s next fight: Kai Kara-France

Shavkat Rakhmonov

This is pretty straightforward: it’s Belal Muhammad. Rakhmonov was already supposed to face the champion on this very card, but Muhammad had to pull out due to a nasty toe injury. Rakhmonov could have chosen to wait for Muhammad but opted to stay on the card and accept a fight with fellow undefeated rising contender Ian Machado Garry.

Undefeated no more is Machado Garry, as Rakhmonov earned a unanimous decision victory (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) in the UFC 310 co-headliner. This was not only the very first time Rakhmonov has gone the distance, but the first time he entered a fourth round. It was a great showing by the Irishman and by far the most adversity Rakhmonov has faced thus far.

It has since been revealed that Rakhmonov might have suffered a torn MCL before the fight, so it will be interesting to see how long his recovery takes. If he is out for some time, Muhammad might face someone else in the meantime. It’s only a matter of scheduling, but Rakhmonov’s next fight will undoubtedly be for the UFC welterweight title, whether Muhammad is still the champion by then or not.

Rakhmonov’s next fight: Title shot

Ciryl Gane

‘Bon Gamin’ had a lot of detractors coming into this fight. On paper, his two career losses don’t look too bad considering they came against Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones, but it’s the way he lost them that had fans concerned about his real upside. And Gane didn’t do much to restore his image in the court of public opinion on Saturday at UFC 310.

While he showed improvements in his ability to get back up, he still made some head-scratching decisions. He sat back for a heel hook, giving up top position, which is what cost him round five against Ngannou. He also held on to a kimura grip that wasn’t going to result in the sweep he was looking because Volkov had tucked his arm, surrendering the entirety of round three.

Yet, he was rewarded by the judges, earning one of the most controversial decisions of the year.  While consecutive wins over streaking contenders can often be enough to get back to the title, there’s very little chance that will be the case for Gane as even Dana White was very vocal in his disagreement with the decision.

There are two important fights at heavyweight early next year and either of them could produce a worthy opponent for Gane. Jailton Almeida is facing Serghei Spivac at UFC 311 and Sergei Pavlovich is fighting Jairzinho Rozenstruik in Saudi Arabia. I went with the winner of Pavlovich/Rozenstruik, partly because Pavlovich would be a fresh matchup. Even though Gane has already beaten Rozenstruik, that was back in February of 2021. Gane beat Spivac not that long ago, so a potential rematch should ‘Polar Bear’ beat Almeida would not make that much sense.

Gane’s next fight: Pavlovich/Rozenstruik winner

Bryce Mitchell & Doo-Ho Choi

I am lumping those two together because I am matching them up.

The man who most people know from his Hall of Fame fight with Cub Swanson and his association with The Korean Zombie looked as good as he ever has on Saturday when he destroyed Nate Landwehr. After losing four years of his prime due to mandatory military service in South Korea, he’s now 33 years of age, turning 34 in April. The time is now for him to make a run, so I like that he called for a ranked opponent in ‘Thug Nasty.’ And his performance warrants it.

As for Mitchell, he impressively slam-KO’d Kron Gracie in what was a peculiar matchmaking move to say the least. It’s good that he got back in the win column, but he’s still just one fight removed from his scary KO loss to Josh Emmett. It’s not like he has earned beyond the shadow of a doubt the right to fight up the rankings. ‘The Korean Superboy’ makes sense as a matchup for him as well.

Plus, Choi has since gone to Instagram to call out Mitchell for a fight in the spring with a picture of our round Earth. He should be granted his wish for that alone.

Mitchell’s next fight: Doo-Ho Choi

Choi’s next fight: Bryce Mitchell

The post What’s Next: UFC 310 Winners appeared first on Cageside Press.

The former interim champ was looking to cement himself as next in line, at least once the Jon Jones-Tom Aspinall situation is ironed out.

“The first time I kicked him in the cage, I looked at my toes, because my toes are like that [makes a 90 degree angle],” Gane revealed, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I look at my toes, I tried to push on my toes. So this has changed a lot of my mindset, so I was frustrated about that. I trained a lot, a lot, a lot, but this is my sport.”

Many, including UFC President and CEO Dana White, saw Volkov as the rightful winner on Saturday. There are positives that can be taken away from the controversial split decision win, however.

“Of course, of course, of course. I got the victory, I proved I’m good. I worked a lot of my ground game. I [put] him in a dangerous situation; fortunately for example, I remembered the Von Flue choke. I remember my coach [saying] ‘step on your feet to finish the position!’ It wasn’t possible to have my big toe, to push myself to finish the position. But anyway, we kept him in danger, so that’s why we won.”

Despite the injury – Gane was wearing a protective boot during his post-fight press conference appearance – he plans to get back to the gym soon. It seems he’ll look to work around the injury.

“I want to be back as soon as I can. We will see for my toes. We will go back to training during the fixing of my toes,” stated Gane. “We can do some conditioning training. We’re going to go back really early at the gym, because we want to stay active. I want to be back in the cage as soon as I can.”

Asked whether he’d call for the Aspinall fight, Gane said he’d ask for anybody, but added that “I’m the number one contender, I proved it tonight, so we will see.”

He later spoke with Cageside Press about the importance of Saturday’s bout. “It was really important. The good thing about the fight tonight is that I proved I can wrestle, I can defend, I’m a danger on the ground. I’ve got no choice because on the feet I had no stability, nothing working good. I proved it tonight. Volkov was amazing tonight, he was amazing. Congratulations for him, he was amazing, he did some things really well. But I won, so I proved it. I’m the number one contender.”

Watch the full UFC 310 post-fight press conference with Ciryl Gane above.

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