Jailton Almeida believes he should fight Tom Aspinall for the UFC heavyweight title in the latter’s first defence.
Aspinall, who became the longest-reigning interim champion in UFC history in April, was promoted to undisputed champion this past weekend when Dana White shockingly announced Jon Jones’ retirement.
The Wigan native had spent nearly two years chasing a fight with ‘Bones’ and UFC CEO White worked tirelessly to make the blockbuster meeting happen.
And despite his assurance the showdown was ‘100 per cent’ guaranteed to happen, it ultimately wasn’t meant to be.
Aspinall is now expected to make his first title defence of the heavyweight strap imminently, with the UFC currently finalising his next opponent.
Many of the promotion’s best heavyweights will, unsurprisingly, want a shot at snatching Aspinall’s gold, but No. 6 ranked heavyweight Almeida believes he is the only fight ‘that makes sense’ for the Brit.
“Congrats champ. You deserve that,” Almeida wrote on Sunday via X, speaking on Aspinall’s upgrade to undisputed status.
“Now, let’s make the only fight that makes sense! Aspinall vs Almeida for the undisputed heavyweight title of the world.
“[Ciryl] Gane has ducked you and me before, already fought for the belt and lost two times, and his last win was a robbery
No. 2 ranked UFC heavyweight Gane is arguably the front runner to face Aspinall for the heavyweight title next.
But the Frenchman secured a controversial win in his last fight against Alexander Volkov in December, which many MMA fans believed he lost.
Gane lost a heavyweight title bout to Jones at UFC 285 in March 2023 in the latter’s debut at heavyweight, having also been defeated by Francia Ngannou 15 months prior in his first shot at gold.
White unveiled Aspinall as the new heavyweight champion on Saturday night with the news Jones had retiredGettyHence, Almeida believes he should go in ahead of Gane, as the latter has already had two attempts at winning gold in the promotion.
Almeida, 33, has won eight of his nine UFC fights since making his debut in 2022 after emerging through Dana White’s Contender Series.
His one defeat came at the hands of Blaydes last March at UFC 299, where he was knocked out in the second round.
However, ‘Malhadinho’ has since bounced back from the defeat to win his last two bouts over Alexandr Romanov and Sergei Spivac, winning both in the first round.
In total, the Brazilian has racked up six first-round finishes in the UFC, with four of them leading to $50,000 (£37,000) Performance of the Night bonuses.
Although Almeida is unlikely to leapfrog Volkov and Gane to a championship fight next, he is a serious contender for the belt.
Almeida believes he should be the one fighting Aspinall for gold nextGetty The 33-year-old boasts an 8-1 record in the UFCGETTYUFC Heavyweight Rankings
New Champ
Tom Aspinall (champion) Ciryl Gane Alexander Volkov Sergei Pavlovich Curtis Blaydes Jailton Almeida Waldo Cortes Acosta Marcin Tybura Sergehi Spivac Derrick Lewis Tai Tuivasa Shamil Gaziev Mick Parkin Tallison Teixeira Martin BudayFormer two-division UFC champion-turned-pundit Daniel Cormier believes it’s either him or Gane.
“You have two options,” he said. “You have Ciryl Gane and you have Jailton Almeida.
“I know that Alexander Volkov has done well too, but Tom beat him already.
“I think you have Ciryl, or you have Jailton.”
Almeida responded to Cormier’s comments, saying: “Daniel Cormier saying that I’m one of the main options to a fight against Tom Aspinall for the belt next!
“That’s not me, that’s maybe the greatest expert of the game!”
Tom Aspinall's UFC Record
Seven first-round finishes
W – Curtis Blaydes via first-round KO at UFC 304 in July 2024 W – Sergei Pavlovich via first-round KO at UFC 295 in November 2023 W – Marcin Tybura via first-round KO at UFC Fight Night in July 2023 L – Curtis Blaydes via first-round TKO (injury) at UFC Fight Night in July 2022 W – Alexander Volkov via first-round submission at UFC Fight Night in March 2022 W – Serghei Spivac via first-round KO at UFC Fight Night in September 2021 W – Andrei Arlovski via second-round submission at UFC Fight Night in February 2021 W – Alan Baudot via first-round KO at UFC Fight Night in October 2020 W – Jake Collier via first-round KO at UFC Fight Night in July 2020Ex-UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is another option for Aspinall.
He has previously teased the idea of moving up to heavyweight and is currently walking around at 243 lbs.
‘Poatan’ has stated that he is focusing on a rematch with current light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev, who dethroned Pereira of his belt in March, but a huge pay day could tempt the Brazilian to make the step up and fight Aspinall.
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