Tom Aspinall has got options following Jon Jones’ UFC retirement.
The undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion as of Saturday, Aspinall promises to be an active defending champion after Jones announced his official retirement.
UFC CEO Dana White said he did all he could to make the super-fight happen, claiming Jones changed his mind.
After a near 600-day wait for Jones, Aspinall will set his sights on a different opponent.
But who will be Tom Aspinall’s first defense, now that he’s the undisputed champion?
Here are three likely opponents for the British knockout artist aiming to be the greatest heavyweight of all time.
Ciryl Gane
A superstar in France, Ciryl Gane is 10-2 in the UFC with his only losses in the UFC coming to Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones.
The high-level striker is coming off back-to-back wins over Serghei Spivac and Alexander Volkov.
Gane vs. Aspinall has been highly talked about in the last couple of years.
Aspinall claimed Gane turned down an interim title fight at UFC 304 last summer because he wanted to act in a movie instead.
Alexander Volkov
Perhaps overlooked in the heavyweight title picture, Alexander Volkov definitely has a case for a UFC title fight even after a loss.
In his last 10 fights, Volkov has only lost to Aspinall and Gane. The perennial contender has victories over Sergei Pavlovich, Tai Tuivasa, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and more.
Volkov is coming off a controversial split decision loss to Gane at UFC 310 last December in a fight UFC boss Dana White thought the Russian had won.
Six UFC fighters were given title shots off of losses in 2020. Don’t be surprised if Volkov gets one in 2025.
Jailton Almeida
Someone who’s been calling for a fight with Tom Aspinall over the last several months is Jailton Almeida.
The Brazilian contender is ranked #6 in the UFC light heavyweight division. Almeida is 8-1 in the UFC with his sole loss coming to interim title challenger Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299 in Mar. 2024 via second-round TKO.
Almeida has since rebounded with two-straight finishes over Alexandr Romanov and Serghei Spivac.
✅ Aspinall
❌Gane (2 titleshot failed + last fight robbery)
❌Volkov (already fought Tom + last fight loss)
❌Pavlovich (booked + already fought Tom)
❌Blaydes (already fought Tom)
✅ Almeida (come over 2 wins, 2 finishs, 1 bonus)@danawhite @ufc @Mickmaynard2
— Jailton Almeida “Malhadinho” (@Malhadinho_UFC) June 22, 2025
Almeida is renowned for his grappling and took down Curtis Blaydes nine times in the opening round of their fight last year. Blaydes has only been taken down four times in his 19 other UFC fights.
While he’s not the biggest name of the division, stylistically, Almeida could very well be one of Aspinall’s biggest title threats.
