UFC 308 is another stacked, fourth-quarter event for the promotion, but the show’s main card just got a little lighter.
According to multiple reports, Alexander Volkov is out of his main-card clash with Ciryl Gane on October 26, and their fight has been rescheduled for UFC 309 on November 16 in Madison Square Garden on the Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic card.
The heavyweight clash is crucial as it will likely determine who is next up for a title shot after Tom Aspinall faces the winner of Jones-Miocic.
There is a world where the Volkov-Gane fight could determine the next No. 1 contender. If the winner of Jones-Miocic retires, Aspinall, the current interim champion, would then be elevated to the undisputed champ.
If that happens, the winner of Volkov-Gane would become the new No. 1 contender and likely Aspinall’s first challenger for his title. UFC CEO Dana White may not be in love with that scenario.
If Jones or Miocic win and want to give Aspinall a chance to win the undisputed crown, that fight would likely occur sometime in the first or early second quarter of 2025.
Aspinall is also likely to be the backup fighter for UFC 309 if Jones or Miocic cannot compete. If that happens, Jones or Miocic is not guaranteed to fight Aspinall.
The two future Hall-of-Famers seem determined to fight each other in a battle of two of the best of their era.
Volkov has been on a tear. He is on a four-fight win streak and coming off a dominant unanimous decision win over Sergei Pavlovich in June. Volkov’s last loss came to Aspinall via first-round submission in March 2022.
Perhaps he can get a second shot at the man most consider to be the top heavyweight in the world.
Gane hasn’t been very active and split his last two fights. The Frenchman hasn’t fought since September 2023, when they knocked out Serghei Spivac in the third round. The fight before that, he lost his opportunity to win the heavyweight title vacated by Francis Ngannou’s exit when Jones submitted him via rear-naked choke in March 2023.
Before scoring a TKO win over Tai Tuivasa in September 2023, Gane lost a unanimous decision to Ngannou in January 2022. Gane was the interim champion then, and Ngannou was the recognized titleholder.
It remains to be seen if Gane will have even more Octagon rust from having the fight pushed back a little less than a month.
As it stands, here is the remaining UFC 308 card. We’ll see if another fight is added to replace Volkov-Gane.
- Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title
- Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev: Middleweights
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic: Light Heavyweights
- Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan: Middleweights
- Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige: Featherweights
- Geoff Neal vs. Rafael dos Anjos: Welterweights
- Justin Tafa vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu: Heavyweights
- Abusupiyan Magomedov vs. Brunno Ferreira: Middleweights
- Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerquira: Light Heavyweights
- Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nursulton Ruziboev: Welterweights
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Daniel Santos: Men’s Bantamweights
- Bruno Silva vs. Ismail Naurdiev: Middleweights
- Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo: Men’s Bantamweights
- Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki: Lightweights
