There is a new era in the UFC Heavyweight Division, and the top candidates are now looking for the crown of Tom Aspinall.
Aspinall had his interim champion status converted into undisputed last Saturday when Dana White announced that Jon Jones had retired.
The news ended a lot of speculation and debate about the title photo of the division, which had shown two champions for 19 months because of the refusal of Jones to fight Aspinall and to unite the gold.
This allows the weight class to continue and one candidate leads the leadership with their Callouts from Aspinall.
Jailton Almeida plans to drag Tom Aspinall to deep water
Not much has immediately jumped forward to claim the first shot on the newly crowned heavyweight king. However, that cannot be said for Jilton Almeida.
The Brazilian quickly went to work on social media and responded to a number of prominent accounts that explain why he should first stand in line for a crack at Aspinall.
And that trend continued in a recent interview with MMA battle, in which Almeida even broke how he would make Aspinall's undisputed government a short arrangement.
“It will be a great fight because our styles are similar. He is fast. He is not surprising,” said Almeida.
“What I have seen from Tom Aspinall is that he is not fighting five rounds. He never fought five rounds in his life. He is tired after the second. Tom Aspinall has never been tested to fight more than three rounds. I am already doing six or seven rounds in the gym and is not even training to fight.
“If I fight against Tom Aspinall, I will take him to the third round to see how he does that. But Aspinall is not a fool, he is very experienced and has fights with tough opponents, so I have to be smart and come up with a good strategy to defeat him. For me, when the cage closes there, I am a war. I am ready for a war.”
'Malhadinho' has been desperate for a chance to win UFC Gold this year. To prove it, Almeida even called Magomed Ankalaev, the light champion heavyweight.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
Tom Aspinall sets his goal as an undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion
While Almeida is planning to appropriate him if he gets the chance, Aspinall plans to plan a long rule over the heavyweight division.
In a short video on his YouTube channel, the undisputed title holder responded to Jones's retirement. After thanking his supporters, Aspinall promised to be the “best heavyweight ever” while building his legacy on the throne.
“Constant, very, very important for me that I quickly acknowledge everyone who supported me in this.
“I am not going to say that it was a difficult time, but a bit of a challenging time in the last 10, 11 months, that I have been inactive because of no fault of my own.
“But luckily, that is all behind us now. Appreciate the support of everyone enormously, appreciate the support enormously.
“I'm going to keep this thing as active as possible. I want to be the best heavyweight ever to walk the face of the earth,” Aspinall added. “I will defend this thing as often as possible as I can.”
However, whether Aspinall's trip to Almeida or another competition, however, is still to be seen.