UFC 308 loses one of its best main fights

UFC 308 is another packed fourth-quarter event for the organizer, but the main program of the show has become a little lighter.

According to multiple reports, Alexander Volkov is out of his main event fight against Ciryl Gane on October 26. The fight has been rescheduled for November 16 at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, where Jon Jones will face Stipe Miocic.

The heavyweight fight is crucial as it will likely decide who will fight for the title next 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 become undisputed champion.

If that happens, the winner of Volkov-Gane would be the new No. 1 contender and likely Aspinall's first challenger for his title. UFC CEO Dana White may not be thrilled with that scenario.

If Jones or Miocic want to win and give Aspinall a chance to win the undisputed crown, that fight would likely take place sometime in the first or early second quarter of 2025.

Aspinall will also likely be the replacement fighter for UFC 309 in case Jones or Miocic are unable to compete. In that case, Jones or Miocic are not guaranteed to fight Aspinall.

The two future Hall of Famers seem determined to face each other in a duel of the best of their era.

Volkov is in top form, having won four fights in a row and scoring a dominant unanimous decision victory over Sergei Pavlovich in June. Volkov's last loss came by first-round submission to Aspinall in March 2022.

Maybe he'll get a second chance against the man most consider to be the best heavyweight in the world.

Gane has not been very active and has split his last two fights. The Frenchman has not fought since September 2023, when they knocked out Serghei Spivac in the third round. In the fight before that, he lost his chance to win the heavyweight title vacated by the retirement of Francis Ngannou when Jones forced him to submit via rear-naked choke in March 2023.

Before scoring a TKO victory over Tai Tuivasa in September 2023, Gane lost to Ngannou by unanimous decision in January 2022. Gane was the interim champion at the time and Ngannou was the recognized title holder.

It remains to be seen whether Gane's Octagon appearance will be further rusted by the fight being postponed by almost 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