Trader: Tom Aspinall UFC Title Fight Has More Bettor Appeal Than Stacked UFC 322
The UFC's CEO, Dana White, said last week that Islam Makhachev and Jack Della Maddalena, the No. 2 and No. 9 men's pound-for-pound top ranked fighters, respectively, would be on the UFC 322 program.
Welterweight Championship Battle
For that stacked UFC 322 Saturday on November 15 at Madison Square Garden, White also revealed Valentina Shevchenko vs. Weili Zhang as the co-main event. Zhang, the strawweight champion, is stepping up to the flyweight class to take on Shevchenko.
UFC 322 also features a welterweight matchup between No. 4-ranked Leon Edwards and No. 9-ranked Carlos Prates.
The former lightweight champion Makhachev is aiming for a second championship. At UFC 315 on May 10, Della Maddalena defeated Belal Muhammad by majority decision to win the UFC welterweight title.
Tom Aspinall's return
However, a trader with BetVictor claims that the bout with the wider bettor appeal is Tom Aspinall vs. No. 1-ranked Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight division title belt, which is set for UFC 321 on October 25 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Aspinall, who holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, won the title at UFC 295 in November 2023 after knocking out Sergei Pavlovich in the first round with a devastating right-hand punch.
“UFC 322 is a good card, well, the makings of a good card,” said Mark Collier. “If we directly compare to UFC 321 in October, then we anticipate larger numbers for the Abu Dhabi card, particularly with the headline being the long overdue return of homegrown star and champion, Tom Aspinall (Aspinall is from Manchester).
“This does not disregard UFC 322, Maddalena is certainly worthy of competing with Islam Makhachev and you have to think that Shevchenko and Weili is genuinely too hard to call. Also, to be considered, Leon Edwards features on the main card so “Rocky” should draw more interest for our pool of customers.”
Too Difficult to Call
With the Abu Dhabi event starting at 3 p.m. British Summer Time, Collier stated that they anticipate a stronger draw for the Aspinall fight in October, meaning a greater proportion of their clientele will tune in at a more enticing time.
“What indirectly will aid the UFC 322 card in New York is the fact that on the same night, we have the boxing rematch of Chris Eubank Jr vs. Conor Benn here in the UK,” he said. “We are firm believers in combat sports of both disciplines correlating in terms of betting so depending on the outcome of the boxing, there is nothing to suggest that turnover may increase dramatically from the conclusion of the boxing and into UFC 322.”
