UFC News & FeaturesOpinion: No Clear Options for Tom Aspinall
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Following the announcement that Jon Jones was retiring, Tom Aspinall was promoted to undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder. For well over a year, fans clamored for Jones and Aspinall to square off in what would have been arguably the most anticipated heavyweight fight in MMA history. With Jones removing himself from the picture—at least for now—those talks will be dead and replaced by two questions: Was Jones scared to face the Englishman? Against whom should Aspinall defend his undisputed championship?
While the former is nuanced and will need more information before a
definitive answer can be had, the latter is something the UFC
should want to address as soon as possible given the lack of
activity during Jones’ reign. Since Jones claimed the crown in
March 2023, he defended the title once. That defense came against
Stipe
Miocic, who hadn’t won a fight since 2020. In other words, the
division has been stagnant.
Aspinall has given every indication that he will be a fighting champion. The holdup on his potential fight with Jones didn’t come from his side, the Brit having shown he was more than willing to take the fight at any point. He has already circled October in Abu Dhabi for UFC 321, which isn’t a bad timeframe. Most heavyweights don’t cut weight, and if they do, the pounds tend to come off the big boys easier than they do for those in the smaller weight classes. The heavyweight division needs to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. While I anticipate the UFC will be more than happy to take Aspinall’s input about whom his first official defense should come against, I also anticipate he will be more than willing to face whoever the UFC opts to nominate. Who should that be? The top ranked heavyweight underneath Aspinall is Ciryl Gane. Given that Aspinall and Gane have yet to square off, it might appear to be the most obvious choice. However, there are a few factors at play that have me doubting that’s the route the UFC takes.
Most damaging to Gane’s case is his most recent contest against Alexander Volkov—a win on paper only. Out of the recorded media scores on MMADecisions.com, 19 of the 20 scored it for Volkov, indicating Gane’s victory was an outright robbery, something with which UFC CEO Dana White agreed. Since White doesn’t believe Gane’s last win was legitimate, it’s likely he directs the Frenchman to win another contest before fighting for the title.
The next three names in the UFC’s official heavyweight rankings are all names that Aspinall has previously defeated: Volkov, Sergei Pavlovich and Curtis Blaydes. None of the contests were particularly close, so there’s hesitation to put them into a title fight when other options who haven’t fallen to Aspinall exist. That means the only other potentially deserving name that is likely in consideration is Jailton Almeida. Like Aspinall, the only loss on Almeida’s UFC ledger is to Blaydes. Aside from that, Almeida has eight wins in the UFC, with two of those coming since his loss to Blaydes. While Almeida has turned in some stinkers—his decision victory over Lewis was terrible—he has generally found finishes quickly, with six of those eight wins coming in the first round. Thus, he’s likely to be seen as a more entertaining option than Gane.
There has been speculation the UFC might bring back Ngannou. After all, the former champion has made the type of money he was hoping the UFC would give him in his boxing matches with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, so he should be set financially. However, the Professional Fighters League doesn’t have anything interesting to offer him that would pique fans’ interest, and his legacy could use a few more notable victims if that’s now his focus. Then again, water has been thrown on that possibility, as White himself has said the UFC has no interest in bringing Ngannou back.
The UFC has in the past declared there are certain things it would “never” do, only to end up doing them, the most notorious case being allowing women to fight in the organization. In the case of Ngannou, I’d say this is a case of something the UFC might be willing to revisit, but I doubt it would occur in time for Aspinall’s first defense, even if he’s willing to wait until October. While I’m not smothering the chances of them ever fighting—especially if the UFC was willing to meet Jones’ demands—I don’t believe it happens in time for our topic of discussion.
The wild card in this situation appears to be the UFC’s knockout king, the aforementioned Lewis. Sure, he’s no longer in his prime and shouldn’t be considered a contender, but he’s one of the most popular fighters on the roster and will have won three of his last four if he can get past Tallison Teixeira next month with minimal damage. Lewis has done quick turnarounds for the UFC before, and I’m sure the UFC would love to squeeze one more headliner out of the 40-year-old before it’s no longer a possibility. I’m sure Aspinall wouldn’t mind having an opportunity to add his name to his list of victims, either. I hope it isn’t the case, but I can see Lewis getting the shot if a challenger for Aspinall isn’t announced in the next week or two.
Regardless of who gets the first crack at Aspinall, it’s good to see the heavyweight division open again. Then again, Jones has poisoned the well so badly that anything is an improvement from his time as champion. The sooner Aspinall can step in to defend the title, the sooner we can wash the sour taste of Jones’ reign out of our mouths.
Following the announcement that Jon Jones was retiring, Tom Aspinall was promoted to undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder. For well over a year, fans clamored for Jones and Aspinall to square off in what would have been arguably the most anticipated heavyweight fight in MMA history. With Jones removing himself from the picture—at least for now—those talks will be dead and replaced by two questions: Was Jones scared to face the Englishman? Against whom should Aspinall defend his undisputed championship?
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Aspinall has given every indication that he will be a fighting champion. The holdup on his potential fight with Jones didn’t come from his side, the Brit having shown he was more than willing to take the fight at any point. He has already circled October in Abu Dhabi for UFC 321, which isn’t a bad timeframe. Most heavyweights don’t cut weight, and if they do, the pounds tend to come off the big boys easier than they do for those in the smaller weight classes. The heavyweight division needs to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. While I anticipate the UFC will be more than happy to take Aspinall’s input about whom his first official defense should come against, I also anticipate he will be more than willing to face whoever the UFC opts to nominate. Who should that be? The top ranked heavyweight underneath Aspinall is Ciryl Gane. Given that Aspinall and Gane have yet to square off, it might appear to be the most obvious choice. However, there are a few factors at play that have me doubting that’s the route the UFC takes.
The UFC is a business first and a sport second. The company is
going to be interested in which contender might produce the most
eyeballs. Because there isn’t a heavyweight with a proven fanbase
outside of Aspinall and Derrick
Lewis, perhaps that doesn’t come into account this time around.
Perhaps the company deems that fans just want to see Aspinall in
action. If it does opt to consider who might draw the most
eyeballs, Gane’s popularity—or lack thereof—could seriously damage
his prospects of being the first one to get a crack at Aspinall.
Fair or not, Gane is viewed as a boring fighter. Already having two
cracks at the undisputed title—he lost to Jones and Francis
Ngannou—hurts Gane’s chances, too. As stagnant as the division
has been, it might only be appropriate that someone else gets a
chance given that he wasn’t able to seal the deal.
Most damaging to Gane’s case is his most recent contest against Alexander Volkov—a win on paper only. Out of the recorded media scores on MMADecisions.com, 19 of the 20 scored it for Volkov, indicating Gane’s victory was an outright robbery, something with which UFC CEO Dana White agreed. Since White doesn’t believe Gane’s last win was legitimate, it’s likely he directs the Frenchman to win another contest before fighting for the title.
The next three names in the UFC’s official heavyweight rankings are all names that Aspinall has previously defeated: Volkov, Sergei Pavlovich and Curtis Blaydes. None of the contests were particularly close, so there’s hesitation to put them into a title fight when other options who haven’t fallen to Aspinall exist. That means the only other potentially deserving name that is likely in consideration is Jailton Almeida. Like Aspinall, the only loss on Almeida’s UFC ledger is to Blaydes. Aside from that, Almeida has eight wins in the UFC, with two of those coming since his loss to Blaydes. While Almeida has turned in some stinkers—his decision victory over Lewis was terrible—he has generally found finishes quickly, with six of those eight wins coming in the first round. Thus, he’s likely to be seen as a more entertaining option than Gane.
There has been speculation the UFC might bring back Ngannou. After all, the former champion has made the type of money he was hoping the UFC would give him in his boxing matches with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, so he should be set financially. However, the Professional Fighters League doesn’t have anything interesting to offer him that would pique fans’ interest, and his legacy could use a few more notable victims if that’s now his focus. Then again, water has been thrown on that possibility, as White himself has said the UFC has no interest in bringing Ngannou back.
The UFC has in the past declared there are certain things it would “never” do, only to end up doing them, the most notorious case being allowing women to fight in the organization. In the case of Ngannou, I’d say this is a case of something the UFC might be willing to revisit, but I doubt it would occur in time for Aspinall’s first defense, even if he’s willing to wait until October. While I’m not smothering the chances of them ever fighting—especially if the UFC was willing to meet Jones’ demands—I don’t believe it happens in time for our topic of discussion.
The wild card in this situation appears to be the UFC’s knockout king, the aforementioned Lewis. Sure, he’s no longer in his prime and shouldn’t be considered a contender, but he’s one of the most popular fighters on the roster and will have won three of his last four if he can get past Tallison Teixeira next month with minimal damage. Lewis has done quick turnarounds for the UFC before, and I’m sure the UFC would love to squeeze one more headliner out of the 40-year-old before it’s no longer a possibility. I’m sure Aspinall wouldn’t mind having an opportunity to add his name to his list of victims, either. I hope it isn’t the case, but I can see Lewis getting the shot if a challenger for Aspinall isn’t announced in the next week or two.
Regardless of who gets the first crack at Aspinall, it’s good to see the heavyweight division open again. Then again, Jones has poisoned the well so badly that anything is an improvement from his time as champion. The sooner Aspinall can step in to defend the title, the sooner we can wash the sour taste of Jones’ reign out of our mouths.
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