Who’s the next contender to face Tom Aspinall?

Who’s next to face Tom Aspinall?

     Now that the drama between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall is over, people are looking at the sparse Heavyweight division and wondering who should face Tom. While there are a few contenders in the division, only a handful of fighters pose any threat to the champ. Furthermore, one or two fighters present an even greater challenge to Aspinall.

Current Contenders

     When you look at the best of the division, no contender immediately matches up well against Tom Aspinall. At the same time, the first choice would be Ciryl Gane, mainly because he’s the #1 contender. While Gane is a great wrestler, able to slow down the fight and simultaneously moves like a welterweight, this most likely wouldn’t end well for him, due to Aspinall’s power and submission ability. If you also look at the other contenders, many have already lost to Aspinall and haven’t shown any actual improvement in their games to justify their case. Other than Jailton Almeida, and possibly in the future, Waldo Cortes-Acosta or Shamil Gaziev, the UFC most likely needs to look elsewhere for a big Heavyweight fight.

Ngannou Or Pereira?

It’s hard to judge Francis Ngannou’s situation. Many speculate that he may return to the UFC because he was at the UFC Atlanta weigh-ins. However, it seems like a pipe dream, especially since Dana White doesn’t seem interested in bringing him back. Even though every fan would like to see Ngannou return, especially since he would have a solid chance of winning. There is little to no chance of it happening in the future. However, the other move would be for Alex Pereira to move again to Heavyweight. Pereira would have the power to match Aspinall, the takedown defense, and the size to match, and he would try to become a triple champion on top of that. If Dana White wants to create the biggest Heavyweight fight, he can make this the fight to make.

Conclusion

     Unless there is a massive move for the UFC to bring back Francis Ngannou. Then the UFC needs Alex Pereira to move up in weight so they can make one of the biggest Heavyweight fights in the promotion’s history. Because, as of now, the only person in the division who may have the slightest chance to beat Aspinall would be Ciryl Gane due to his wrestling ability and ability to move like a Welterweight. But in most scenarios, that fight wouldn’t last long. And unless someone new comes along, or something crazy happens, Tom will remain champion for the foreseeable future. For more UFC articles, click here.