Tom Aspinall’s first title defense should be against a UFC fan favorite, according to a former two-division champ.
After months of waiting for Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall was promoted to undisputed UFC heavyweight champion following Jones’s retirement last month. As of this writing, an exact timeline is uncertain for Aspinall’s first undisputed title defense, as is who he will face to get the heavyweight division moving again.
Several intriguing names are in the mix for Aspinall’s next opponent, including two-time lineal title challenger Ciryl Gane. But Gane’s most-recent victory was marred in controversy, after he defeated Alexander Volkov at UFC 310 in a fight that Dana White believes the judges got wrong.
Amid the uncertainty at the top of the division, a former champion believes an out-of-the-box pick for Aspinall’s next opponent is warranted.
Henry Cejudo makes surprising pick for Tom Aspinall’s first undisputed title defense
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira raised eyebrows just weeks ago when he posted a staggering weight gain on social media, prompting speculation that he’s planning a move to heavyweight. But Pereira is still intent on running it back with newly-crowned light heavyweight titleholder Magomed Ankalaev later this year after losing the belt at UFC 313.
As Aspinall kicks off his undisputed title reign, he could face one of the heavyweight division’s most beloved stars in a massive showdown.
In a recent post on X, former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo made a potentially resume-defining pick for Aspinall’s first undisputed title defense.
“It should be Tom Aspinall vs. Derrick Lewis next. The fans would definitely prefer it, and Lewis would mean more to Aspinall’s resume than Gane,” Cejudo opined.
“How could you build up a fight between Aspinall and Gane when Gane lost his last fight and Dana said to Volkov outside the cage ‘You got f*****’. Let Aspinall/Lewis headline UFC 322 at MSG.”
Derrick Lewis made a strong case for a title shot, despite his ranking, in a 35-second knockout of Tallison Teixeira at UFC Nashville earlier this month. Lewis, a two-time UFC title challenger, is the UFC’s all-time knockouts leader and has won three of his last four fights.
Making matters interesting, White didn’t explicitly deny Lewis’s case for a heavyweight title shot after UFC Nashville. An announcement regarding Aspinall’s next fight is expected to be made in the coming weeks.
Jon Jones targeting ‘whoever is the champ’ at the time of planned UFC comeback at The White House
In the meantime, Jones received some bad news from White regarding his intended Octagon return at the UFC’s planned White House event next year. White recently shut down Jones potentially headlining the card due to some of Jones’s transgressions outside of the cage.
Jones has since issued a statement on White’s comments, hinting at his desire to remain active and keep training in hopes of changing the UFC headman’s mind. He hasn’t fought since finishing Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November.
If Aspinall retains the heavyweight belt at year’s end, a showdown with Jones could finally come to fruition. But for now, White doesn’t seem interested in granting Jones’s wish.