A new era in the UFC heavyweight division is underway, and Tom Aspinall is at the helm of it.
Saturday, June 21, marked a big night for Aspinall, as he was finally crowned the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion. That was confirmed after Dana White announced Jon Jones’ retirement.
News of that shift at heavyweight comes after months of divisional turmoil owing to the now-former champ’s refusal to fight his interim counterpart.
Jones’ stance left a frustrated Aspinall unable to complete his journey to the throne, during which he dominated several prominent names.
While triumphs over Andrei Arlovski and Marcin Tybura made a statement, it was the Brit’s very first main event that left many tipping him for greatness.
Tom Aspinall ran through Alexander Volkov in his UFC main event debut
After a perfect 4-0 start to his UFC career, a run that netted him an impressive three Performance of the Night bonuses, Aspinall was given a big opportunity to climb the heavyweight ranks.
The Manchester native was matched against Alexander Volkov for his very first main event, which came on home soil at UFC London in March 2022.
Volkov has long been a mainstay of the division, having arrived following championship success under both the Bellator MMA and M-1 Global banners. While the Russian has been unable to win UFC gold, he has defeated the likes of Roy Nelson, Fabricio Werdum, and Alistair Overeem to build an imposing résumé on MMA’s biggest stage.
But the young prospect evidently didn’t get the memo about the supposed deep waters he was predicted to enter in a stiff step up in competition. Instead, Aspinall mauled Volkov at UFC London before finishing the fight with a gruesome straight armbar less than four minutes into the fight.
To date, Aspinall remains the only man to dominate Volkov in that fashion under the UFC banner.
Tom Aspinall’s win over Alexander Volkov has aged nicely
Although Aspinall’s victory over Volkov was impressive enough at the time, it’s aged well thanks to the Russian’s form inside the Octagon since.
‘Drago’ won his next four fights to return to the title picture, first stringing together knockouts against Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alexandr Romanov.
Volkov then showed his own submission prowess by forcing Tai Tuivasa to tap out while stuck in a rare Ezekiel choke at the UFC’s Sydney pay-per-view in 2023.
A decision over his fellow countryman and the man whom Aspinall beat to win interim gold, Sergei Pavlovich, followed last year, making the Russian a strong contender in the championship conversation.
This year, Volkov is coming off a controversial setback after a widely debated split decision went the way of Ciryl Gane in their fight at UFC 310 last December.
Given what UFC CEO Dana White thought of that decision, it stands to reason that Volkov is still in the heavyweight mix as the promotion looks for the first challenger to Aspinall’s now undisputed reign.