UFC 321: Start time, schedule, fight card, how to watch and latest odds

Tom Aspinall makes his long-awaited return to the Octagon as he fights for the first time since becoming the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.

The Briton was promoted from interim to undisputed after Jon Jones, who Aspinall had been pushing to fight in a heavyweight title-unifier, retired from the sport via a statement from UFC president Dana White back in June.

The 32-year-old is only the third Brit to hold a UFC championship, and spent 19 months as interim champion, having claimed the title with a win over Sergei Pavlovich in November 2023.

Since then, he has defended his title once, against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in Manchester in July last year.

Aspinall knocked Blaydes out inside a minute of the first round, making amends for his defeat two years earlier, when Aspinall suffered a knee injury.

Since then, he has been chasing a fight with Jones, which never materialised.

Now, he makes his return in Abu Dhabi for UFC 321, headlining a stacked card at the Etihad Arena.

He takes on Ciryl Gane, the 35-year-old Frenchman, whose only defeats in the UFC have come at the hands of Jones and Francis Ngannou, by way of a guillotine submission and unanimous decision respectively.

Gane has fought more recently than Aspinall, beating Alexander Volkov by split decision in his most recent outing at UFC 310 in December last year.

At 13-2 in his professional career, he is certainly a test for Aspinall, but one that the heavyweight champion will be confident in passing with flying colours.