The UFC heavyweight championship is in absolute chaos right now, folks, because Tom Aspinall just vacated the title! Yeah, you read that right. He’s still dealing with brutal eye injuries from when Ciryl Gane poked him at UFC 321, and honestly, the division feels like it’s eating itself alive in a messy spiral.
A Belt Nobody Can Hold Onto
Man, this division has been wild for years, hasn’t it? Remember when Aspinall and Gane went to a no contest because of Gane’s fouls? Everyone thought a rematch was a no-brainer. But then Gane went and snagged the interim heavyweight crown by beating Alex Pereira at UFC Freedom 250, held right there on the White House South Lawn. Meanwhile, Aspinall’s return kept getting pushed back thanks to all those medical procedures on his eyes. It’s been a crazy waiting game.
But let’s be real, this isn’t just about Aspinall, is it? The heavyweight division has been a mess since Francis Ngannou, who was the undisputed king, split with the UFC over contract beefs. He knocked out Stipe Miocic to get the belt, but only defended it once, beating Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. When Ngannou was stripped, Jon Jones finally moved up to heavyweight and choked out Gane quick to win the vacant belt. But get this: Jones was supposed to fight Miocic, and that fight didn’t happen until a mind-blowing 20 months after Jones won the title! While Jones was hurt and that fight was delayed, Aspinall stepped up and won an interim title by absolutely flattening Sergei Pavlovich.
Aspinall waited for his shot at Jones, but it never came. Jones retired, vacated the belt, and boom, Aspinall was promoted to undisputed champion. He finally made it to the top of the mountain, only for his eyes to meet Gane’s fingers in his first defense, and now he’s had to vacate too. Think about that: since Ngannou was stripped on January 14, 2023, we’ve had only three undisputed heavyweight championship fights. And get this, THREE consecutive champions have either been stripped or just walked away from the title. This belt is seriously like a hot potato, nobody can hold onto it!
What’s Next for the Tangled Web?
So, where does that leave us? The obvious next move for the UFC is for Ciryl Gane to be promoted from interim to undisputed heavyweight champion. It’s wild, right? Gane has tried to win the undisputed title three times already, losing to Ngannou in 2022, Jones in 2023, and getting that no contest with Aspinall in 2025. This time, he might just get it by default, stepping into a championship he hasn’t exactly seized head-on. Beyond Gane, the division is a total tangled web. It’s a mess of fighters with seriously questionable claims to a title shot. We’re all just watching to see how this wild story plays out, because with this division, anything can happen next.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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