Tom Aspinall is finally the UFC Heavyweight Champion. The long-time interim titleholder was promoted to full champion in late June, following the retirement of previous champion, Jon Jones. While Aspinall chased ‘Bones’ for more than a year prior to him deciding to walk away from the sport, the Brit has always insisted that he was never pursuing Jones personally – he simply wanted to be the outright heavyweight champion.
Now that he has his hands on the gold, Aspinall is keen to make up for lost time, having not fought since defeating Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in Manchester nearly a year ago. Speaking to Adam Catterall during a recent episode of One-on-One, the 32-year-old named no less than four opponents who he wants to face inside the Octagon. After such a long period of inactivity, he wants to defend his title against each of them within the next 12 months.
The new champion already has a pretty impressive record, having picked up wins against several of the current top ten in his division, all within the first five minutes. They include: a one-minute knockout of Blaydes last July, which avenged his previous defeat to the American in 2022. Aspinall also stopped Sergei Pavlovich, Marcin Tybura, Alexander Volkov and Serghei Spivac in the first round.
Asked who he wanted to face in the near future, Aspinall responded:
“First of all, there are not as many of us [top heavyweights]. If you look at the top ten, I have beaten six of them. My goal is to beat 10 of the top 10. I wanna beat all 10. My goal is at least three, maybe four between now and the end of 2026!”
Below is a look at the four men Aspinall needs to beat to clear out the top 10 as it stands today.
Ciryl Gane
MMA record: 13-2
Gane did not fare well when he last challenged for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, after succumbing to a guillotine choke from Jon Jones inside two minutes. A clash between Gane and Aspinall makes the most logical sense, as they share victories over mutual opponents, Alexander Volkov (twice) and Serghei Spivac. Perhaps the Brit is looking to stop the Frenchman even quicker than Jones, to get one over on “Bones”. Gane has also taken Francis Ngannou the distance and also holds victories over Junior Dos Santos and Derrick Lewis. Having already both defeated the number two contender in Volkov, it stands to reason that Aspinall should face the next in line – something that Jones was always reluctant to do.
Ciryl Gane’s professional MMA record (as at 06/07/25) |
||
---|---|---|
15 Fights |
13 Wins |
2 Losses |
By Knockout |
6 |
0 |
By Submission |
3 |
1 |
By Decision |
4 |
1 |
Jailton Almeida
MMA record: 22-3
The 25-fight veteran sits at number five in the rankings. The Brazilian has fought both Blaydes and Spivac, losing to the former and winning against the latter. Almeida has the ability to finish a fight both by knockout and submission. In recent times, this has been proven as he has alternated between these methods as a means of picking up the victory in three of his last four fights. His wins against Spivac and Alexandr Romanov came in the first round.
Jailton Almeida’s professional MMA record (as at 06/07/25) |
||
---|---|---|
25 Fights |
22 Wins |
3 Losses |
By Knockout |
8 |
2 |
By Submission |
13 |
0 |
By Decision |
1 |
1 |
Waldo Cortes-Acosta
MMA record: 14-1
The Dominican native is currently ranked ninth in the UFC heavyweight divsion and has only suffered one loss in his MMA career. He also owns a victory over Spivac and has a scheduled bout with Pavlovich in August. Aspinall will need to work hard if he is to continue his streak of early finishes against Cortes-Acosta, as he has proven to be durable with five decision victories in his UFC career. Perhaps crucially, he has been far more active than Aspinall in recent times. His upcoming fight with Pavlovich will be his third this year. However, if Tom is genuinely intent on taking four fights over the course of the next year, he should have no problem shaking off his inevitable cage rust.
Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s professional MMA record (as at 06/07/25) |
||
---|---|---|
15 Fights |
14 Wins |
1 Loss |
By Knockout |
6 |
0 |
By Submission |
1 |
0 |
By Decision |
7 |
1 |
Derrick Lewis
MMA record: 28-12 (1 NC)
Arguably, the most well-known name on Aspinall’s list of desired opponents, Lewis has already had one crack at the UFC Heavyweight Championship. That came at UFC 230, when he was defeated by then-champion Daniel Cormier. Although there’s no doubt that Lewis has the power that could stun Aspinall to the point of a stoppage, “The Black Beast” is very susceptible to first-round defeats and has a questionable chin, falling to Pavlovich in less than a minute. He has also suffered a swift submission loss to Spivac via an arm triangle choke. Lewis’ recent wins are not against the biggest of names, but with the heavyweight division not exactly stacked with fighters that Aspinall hasn’t already beaten, it’s easy to see why the UFC might consider giving the ninth-ranked Lewis a shot.
Derrick Lewis’ professional MMA record (as at 06/07/25) |
||
---|---|---|
41 Fights |
28 Wins |
12 Losses |
By Knockout |
23 |
7 |
By Submission |
1 |
2 |
By Decision |
4 |
3 |
No Contests |
1 |
Aspinall admitted during the interview that he has already signed to fight one of the above men – but refused to be drawn on who it was, despite Gane being heavily rumoured as his first official title defence.
“I now have a fight which I can’t announce unfortunately. But at least we’ve got a date, we’ve got an opponent to work towards, and I can finally get my career going again.”

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