It’s about time Alexander Volkov fights for the UFC heavyweight title.
There is a new dawn in the UFC heavyweight division as interim titleholder Tom Aspinall has been promoted to the undisputed champion following Jon Jones’ official retirement from the sport.
England’s Aspinall promises to be an active, defending champion, with UFC CEO Dana White excited for the ‘Tom Aspinall era’ now that Jones is gone.
Aspinall has a few potential opponents for his first undisputed title defense, including former champion Ciryl Gane and Brazil’s Jailton Almeida, who’s 8-1 in the UFC.
While Gane looks to be a somewhat clear #1 contender for Aspinall, I think the next title shot should go to a fighter coming off a loss.
Alexander Volkov has a decent case for title shot vs. Tom Aspinall
The 6’7″ Alexander Volkov is currently ranked #2 in the UFC heavyweight division and has been ranked in the top 15 ever since he entered the UFC in 2016.
The former Bellator champion has won four out of his last five fights and has only lost to the champ Aspinall and Gane in his last ten fights.
Volkov has defeated the likes of Sergei Pavlovich, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, and is the only heavyweight fighter in the top-5 to not have fought for a title.
Volkov’s coming off a controversial split decision loss against Gane at UFC 310, in a fight much of the MMA world thought the Russian had won.
UFC CEO Dana White disagreed with the judges’ decision and apologized to Volkov, telling the fighter ‘we’ll try to make it right by you’ in a post-fight conversation.
While Volkov did suffer a loss at the hands of Aspinall in 2022, the heavyweight skyscraper has certainly worked his way up to a title rematch with victories over Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexandr Romanov, Tai Tuivasa and Pavlovich, who challenged Aspinall for the interim championship in 2023.
Amid the Jon Jones situation, Volkov said his time was running out for a title fight and now might be the time for the 17-fight UFC veteran to get his shot.
Ciryl Gane is 0-2 in undisputed title fights
Days after Aspinall was promoted to the undisputed heavyweight champion, the #1 contender Ciryl Gane signaled that he was next in line for the title.
“Everything is now set in motion,” Gane teased on Instagram.
A fight with Aspinall would be Gane’s third crack at the undisputed title after falling to Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones.
Gane earned a fight with Ngannou after seven-straight victories but was defeated by unanimous decision. Gane returned to the win column against Tai Tuivasa and received a second title shot, this time for the vacant title against Jones in 2023.
Gane lost to Jones via first-round submission in a little over two minutes at UFC 285.
The French star has since rebounded with a TKO of Serghei Spivac and the closely-contested decision against Volkov, a fight in which he suffered a foot injury in the opening round.
There is name value with Gane but I don’t think the next heavyweight title shot should go to him. In my opinion, it should go to Alexander Volkov, the perennial contender who arguably beat him in their rematch.