Tom Aspinall has taken the Paris boobirds in stride.
Aspinall shared the stage with Ciryl Gane for a UFC 321 press conference in Paris. As one would've expected, Gane received a thunderous ovation from his home country fans, while Aspinall was heavily booed.
Aspinall posted a new video on his YouTube channel where he reacted to being in hostile territory (via MMAFighting).
"It was alright," Aspinall said. "Nothing special, was it? Just loads of French people screaming for Ciryl, which was to be expected. Kept it short and sweet, there's not a lot to say when every time you speak they just boo dead loud."
The reception wasn't surprising to Aspinall, and he admitted that he couldn't make out a good portion of what fans were chanting at him.
"A lot of booing," Aspinall said. "I was expecting the booing. We're in Paris, aren't we, that's where's from, of course I'm going to get booed. I ain't bothered. It's like a circus, isn't it? I'm expecting that. ... To be honest, I couldn't hear half of it. So after a bit I just started forgetting about the booing and just cracked on."
Aspinall and Gane are scheduled to collide on Oct. 25 in Abu Dhabi. Aspinall's UFC Heavyweight Championship will be at stake. This will be the first time Aspinall will enter a bout as the undisputed heavyweight king. The former interim champion earned that distinction when Jon Jones initially retired rather than go through with a title unification fight.
The titleholder is currently a sizable betting favorite over Gane, who last competed in late 2024. Gane took a controversial split decision over Alexander Volkov, who will also be competing on the UFC 321 card. Volkov's fight will be against Jailton Almeida in what could be a title eliminator for a shot at the winner of Aspinall vs. Gane.