Tom Aspinall’s reign as the undisputed heavyweight champion already has its first challenger.
On Saturday night, UFC CEO Dana White announced that Jon Jones has retired from MMA.
As a result, Tom Aspinall‘s interim title has been upgraded, making him the lone king of UFC heavyweights.
Now the search begins for a new opponent after Jon Jones opted against their super fight.
Tom Aspinall called out by Jailton Almeida
A clash between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane appears to be the most likely next fight.
The two men have a simmering rivalry, and Gane is one of the bigger stars at heavyweight.
However, Jailton Almeida believes he should get to face Aspinall before the French fighter.
The 22-3 contender used Gane’s controversial win over Alexander Volkov and his previous decision to ‘duck’ a fight with Aspinall to explain why ‘Bon Gamin’ doesn’t deserve a third heavyweight title shot.
“Congrats champ,” Almeida tweeted on Saturday night.
“You deserve that. Now, lets make the only fight who make sense! Aspinall vs Almeida for undisputed HW title of the world.
“Gane ducks you and me before, already fought for the belt and lost 2-times, and his last win was a robbery.”
Jailton Almeida’s title credentials
Almeida has been close to perfect since joining the UFC with a 14-2 record in 2022.
The 33-year-old beat Derrick Lewis and Jairzinho Rozenstruik during an initial six-fight winning run inside the Octagon.
However, his hype train was temporarily derailed by a second-round KO defeat to Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299 in March 2024.
Since then, Almeida has bounced back with consecutive first-round stoppage wins over Alexander Romanov and Serghei Spivac to cement his spot as the #6-ranked UFC heavyweight contender.
It is currently unclear whether Almeida has done enough to make himself a viable option for Aspinall.