A very important announcement was made this past weekend at the post-fight press conference of UFC Baku in Azerbaijan. UFC President Dana White told the media that UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones had officially retired, meaning that Interim Champion Tom Aspinall now sits at the top of the division, which many claim is his rightful throne as the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion
Aspinall claimed the UFC Interim Heavyweight title on November 12th 2023 by knocking out Sergei Pavlovich in the very first round. However, this is where the Jones/Aspinall saga began, as Aspinall wasn’t initially booked to feature on this card at all. The main event was originally supposed to be Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic, but after Jones picked up an injury in the lead up, the bout was scrapped and the agreed back up fighter, Pavlovich, was then slated to fight, an off the couch, Aspinall who took the fight on two weeks notice. From that point forward, the pair were tied with Tom looking to sort a date with the alleged greatest of all time, although for some reason, Jones never really seemed keen on the match up, stating that he had business to settle with Miocic. We are now 19 months on. Jones has fought and beat Miocic, as well as Aspinall getting redemption on Curtis Blaydes who he suffered a freak injury against back in July 2022, while defending the “interim” title in the process. Aspinall then very respectfully called out Jones, and ever since, Jones has been very reluctant to ever agree to fighting the Englishman.
Saturday nights events marked an end to this very obscure and drawn out saga between the heavyweight pair. Tom Aspinall done what he said he would, and retired the former champion without them ever having to fight.
Our newly crowned Heavyweight kingpin has vowed to get the division back on track and keep the championship active again, so today we look to explore the next possible contenders to challenge for the throne.
- Ciryl Gane
French phenom, Gane, is currently ranked number 1 in the UFC official rankings which would make him first choice initially. However, a very controversial win last time out against Alexander Volkov, wasn’t exactly a performance to set the world alight. Gane has previously had two failed attempts at picking up heavyweight gold in losing efforts against both Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou. He has since turned his hand to the acting industry as of late which seems to keep his schedule pretty busy which makes a title clash between the pair unlikely.
2. Alexander Volkov
“Drago” was riding a 4 fight win streak in a bit of a career resurgence since losing to current champ Aspinall, before his contentious split decision loss to Gane which many people felt he had won. With a great run of form, is this enough to grant a rematch and title clash with the Manchester native?
3. Jailton Almeida
The Braziillian grappling ace is currently 8-1 as a UFC fighter and has wins over the likes of Serghei Spivac, Jairzinho Rozenstruick and Derrick Lewis. Currently ranked 5, Almeida could present a fresh challenge to the champion as a potential fight could be seen as a classic striker vs grappler battle, and would test Aspinall’s grappling ability.
4. Alex Periera
Former Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion, who recently lost his 205lb title to Magomed Ankalaev, has regularly been linked to both the heavyweight division and as a possible opponent for Aspinall. Although “Poatan” has claimed he is more inclined to fight to win back his title, a superfight of the magnitude with Aspinall could possibly be one of the biggest MMA fights of all time, giving the Brazillian striker the chance to make history of becoming the first 3 weight champion in the companies existence. This is also a fight that could get fans back on side after the Jones scenario leaving a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths with the division being held hostage for almost a year.
5. Francis Ngannou
One some might see as an obscure or unlikely choice, is former UFC Heavyweight Champion and current PFL Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou. Although a turbulent ending to his UFC tenure, whether realistic or not, a fight with the Cameroonian Giant and Aspinall is probably the biggest heavyweight fight between the two best 265’ers on the planet.
Without knowing who the next contender will be, getting the heavyweight division back up and running will be great to see and there are a lot of great potential fights to wet the appetite of the UFC fans around the world.
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