Tom Aspinall’s heavyweight teammate has officially signed a contract with the UFC and will make his promotional debut against Aspinall’s former foe.
Just a few weeks ago, Tom Aspinall became the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion after it was announced by Dana White that Jon Jones has officially retired from the sport.
And following the official announcement, Aspinall set himself the goal of becoming the greatest heavyweight of all time, vowing to get the division moving again after months of uncertainty.
Not long after, former UFC interim champion Ciryl Gane teased that a title fight against Aspinall could be next, with there not being many other contenders.
And now joining him on the UFC heavyweight roster is his huge Croatian teammate, Ante Delija.
Ante Delija booked to fight Aspinall’s former foe
In 2022, Delija won the PFL heavyweight tournament championship, bagging himself $1 million in the process. Despite that, he wasn’t able to replicate his fortune in the following years and left the promotion earlier this year.
The Croatian fighter then competed on FNC 22 against former UFC heavyweight Yorgan De Castro, knocking him out in the first round.
It was then announced just a few weeks ago that the UFC have snapped up Delija along with several other former world champions in the latest round of cuts and signings.
Initially it wasn’t announced who Delija would fight in his promotional debut, however this past Tuesday, it was announced by Pawel Wyrobek that Delija will take on Marcin Tybura at UFC Paris on September 6.
Tybura shared the cage with Aspinall in 2023 and was brutally beaten in the first round. After bouncing back with a few wins, he was then matched up with Aspinall’s other teammate Mick Parkin earlier this year.
Tybura went on to take Parkin’s undefeated record with a controversial decision win, which Aspinall thought his teammate won comfortably.
UFC Paris is beginning to take shape
The promotion’s return to Paris is beginning to take shape now, with several high level fights having already been announced.
In the main event, middleweights Caio Borralho and Nassourdine Imavov will face off for potential number one contender status.
Impressive Frenchman Oumar Sy also makes an appearance on the card when he takes on Brendson Ribeiro. Rinat Fakhretdinov also returns to take on the wild Andreas Gustafsson.