The fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall is one that all MMA fans are dying to see next, as Aspinall is on a serious tear at the moment and has skills that pose a serious threat to Jones.
However, the Jones vs Aspinall fight seems to be in limbo as nothing has been confirmed regarding this fight for quite some time now, and the heavyweight division is becoming stale with little movement in the top five.
Aspinall has even come out and said that he is ready to move on to the next contender and claims that Jones is retired.
If this is the case and the ‘different beast’ Jones is retired, we need to start looking at what is next for Aspinall, as he has held the interim title for a record-breaking amount of time.
5 – Jailton Almeida
Almeida came into the UFC as a hot prospect in the light-heavyweight division and has since gone on to become a force up a weight class at heavyweight.
He is an interesting fight for Aspinall because while we have seen Aspinall face many high-level fighters, we are yet to see him face off against someone who poses a threat to him like Almeida does.
Almeida easily has the best jiu-jitsu in the heavyweight division currently with 13 of his 22 career wins coming via a submission.
This grappling-focused style is not one we have seen Aspinall take on yet, and this could help Almeida stake his case as being next in line.
Almeida is also coming off the back of two very good wins against Alexandr Romanov and Sergei Spivac.
He is also one of the few names that Aspinall has not fought yet in the division, and so he could make the claim that a fight against him is something fresh for the division and will help bring the spark back to heavyweight.
4 – Alexander Volkov
Volkov has been a staple in the top 10 of the heavyweight division for many years now, and he has taken on the who’s who of fighters.
It may seem bizarre to list someone who is coming off a loss in their last fight, but this is where context matters.
Volkov lost a very controversial decision to Ciryl Gane at UFC 310, with many fans and even UFC president Dana White claiming that Volkov was robbed of a victory.
Aspinall has already fought Volkov before winning the fight via first-round submission back in 2022.
But since then, Volkov has rebounded well, picking up victories against big names such as Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich.
With his height and long reach combined with his high-level striking ability, Volkov is a tough challenge for anyone, and a rematch vs Aspinall would not be the same as the first fight.
3 – Francis Ngannou
Even though Francis Ngannou is no longer signed to the UFC, there are many people out there who believe that he is still the best heavyweight in the world.
Ngannou left the UFC at the start of 2023 after contract negotiations broke down with the promotion.
Since leaving the UFC, Ngannou has notably had boxing matches against Tyson Fury in a fight which a lot of people thought he won, and Anthony Joshua, where he was brutally knocked out in the second round.
While boxing, Ngannou has also cemented himself in the history of PFL, becoming their heavyweight champion when he knocked out Renan Ferreira.
Ngannou has not fought since, and whether he will fight again is up in the air.
But if he were to ever fight again, a super fight vs Aspinall would be a fight that every single MMA fan would be thrilled to see and could arguably go down as the biggest heavyweight MMA fight ever.
2 – Alex Pereira
Since signing with the UFC in 2021, Pereira has taken the sport by storm and cemented himself as one of the sport’s superstars.
He has amassed an extremely impressive resume in a short space of time, having wins against names like Israel Adesanya, Sean Strickland, Jamal Hill and Jiří Procházka.
Pereira achieved the coveted double champ status when he won the light heavyweight title, and there were a lot of fans calling for him to go to heavyweight and attempt triple weight champion.
Even though Pereira lost his last fight to Magomed Ankalaev, there are still a great number of fans who want to see Pereira jump up and fight Aspinall.
Aspinall has even said himself that he likes the fight and would like to do it one day.
1 – Ciryl Gane
The Frenchman Gane is currently the highest-ranked fighter whose name isn’t Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall.
Gane has been a mainstay at the top of the heavyweight division for quite a while and has fought a lot of the top names, and was once the interim heavyweight champion.
His strongest argument for being next in line is that he is the highest-ranked fighter that Aspinall has not fought yet.
Gane is one of the division’s best strikers with his elusive footwork paired with his lightning-fast hands, he poses a threat to Aspinall in the striking more than any other heavyweight right now.
One thing that may hold Gane back is that Aspinall has claimed in the past that he has turned down offers to fight him.