French heavyweight Ciryl Gane has already spent 25 minutes in the cage with his UFC 310 opponent Alexander Volkov but he is prepared for their rematch to follow a different script.

Back in June 2021, Gane outpointed Volkov across five rounds in a fight that took place during those heady Covid days inside the UFC’s Apex facility outside of Las Vegas.

This time around, their battle will be contested across three rounds and in front of several thousand fight fans inside the T-Mobile Arena but while the Frenchman forecasts a different type of setting and challenge in Volkov who has won four straight fights at heavyweight, ultimately he believes that the same fighter will have their hand raised.

“No, it’s going to be different. It’s completely different,” Gane told reporters, including The Mac Life, in Las Vegas on Wednesday. “This time will be three rounds. The last time it was five. That is different. So no, it will be different.”

“I didn’t see anything special in his last fight,” Gane added of Volkov’s June win over his compatriot Sergei Pavlovich, a fighter regarded as one of the most dangerous in the division. “I saw, not exactly the same because he’s a high level of striking, but I saw the same guy.

“This fight makes sense. He’s just above me [per the UFC rankings], so that’s completely normal. In front of me is [Jon] Jones and Tom [Aspinall], and I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. So this makes sense.”