Tom Aspinall has called for a unified match against Jon Jones for more than a year, but that talent has finally not happened. UFC has confirmed that Jones officially retired, and recognized Tom Aspinall as an absolute champion in Heavyweight's weight class.
In fact, Tom Aspinall has kept UFC's temporary championship in Heavyweight for a long time. He had a belt since the end of 2023, when he won Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295. After that, Tom Aspinall became the first martial artist to protect the belt temporarily, not to be officially painted, when he fought Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 and continued to win.
By the end of last year, Tom Aspinall was still a substitute for the match between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. He did not have the opportunity to fight with anyone of the two legends, when they all retired. For that reason, Tom Aspinall needs a big match to assert himself as the champion.
Ciryl Gane may be the right opponent for Tom Aspinall to be recognized as the strongest boxer UFC at the moment. Similar to Tom Aspinall, Ciryl Gane has held the temporary belt in the past. However, he lost to Francis nunnou in the unity of the belt after that.
1 year after the defeat of Francis Ngannou, Ciryl Gane continued to have the opportunity to fight when encountering Jon Jones. This time, the French boxer even lost to the first half. He has only returned with 2 victories against Serghei Spivac and Alexander Volkov, although the performance is not really good.