Derrick Lewis impressed the entire world with a 35-second KO win over Tallison Teixeira at UFC Nashville. The win was enough to make him dream of a run at the heavyweight championship title one more time. He confessed, “I don’t want easy fights [like the one against Teixeira]. Of course, I would like to do one more run at the title. That’d be good.” The last time ‘The Black Beast’ fought for the title, he got humbled by Daniel Cormier at UFC 230. But this time, it would likely be an all-out battle against Tom Aspinall. But wasn’t the Briton slated to fight Ciryl Gane?
In an episode of the Weighing In podcast, Josh Thomson claimed that Aspinall has the option of fighting Ciryl Gane as well as Alexander Volkov. ‘The Punk’ claimed, “So when I look at this fight, I look at Tom Aspinall, he could fight Ciryl Gane. He could fight whoever else in there, Volkov and those guys. He could fight those guys, and I think he’d have success against them. But it is a puncher’s chance. You are losing that opportunity.”
After losing to Jon Jones at UFC 285, ‘Bon Gamin’ KOed Serghei Spivac and defeated Volkov via a split decision at UFC 310. However, not everyone is convinced. Some, including former two-division champion Henry Cejudo, argue that the French heavyweight was actually outperformed by Spivac and questioned the legitimacy of his recent win. His win over Volkov was also questionable, as many had the Russian winning that fight at UFC 310.
Doubting Gane’s stance as a title challenger, ‘Triple C’ weighed in on Lewis being a better star to fight Tom Aspinall next. Taking to X, Cejudo stated, “It should be Tom Aspinall vs Derrick Lewis next. The fans would definitely prefer it, and Lewis would mean more to Aspinall’s resume than Gane. How could you build up a fight between Aspinall and Gane when Gane lost his last fight and Dana said to Volkov outside the cage “You got f—–.” Let Aspinall/Lewis headline UFC 322 at MSG.”
It should be Tom Aspinall vs Derrick Lewis next. The fans would definitely prefer it, and Lewis would mean more to Aspinall’s resume than Gane. How could you build up a fight between Aspinall and Gane when Gane lost his last fight and Dana said to Volkov outside the cage “You got…
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) July 20, 2025
Apart from Lewis, Gane, and Volkov, there is one more name that the fighting community has pit against Tom Aspinall — the former light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira. Even famed MMA journalist John Morgan approved of the fight between ‘Poatan’ and Aspinall.
Will Tom Aspinall defend his heavyweight belt against Alex Pereira?
During his appearance on Submission Radio, Morgan claimed that fighting Pereira makes the most sense for Tom Aspinall to kickstart his legacy as the undisputed heavyweight champion. He said, “You’re looking to make it the biggest fight you could possibly make, I think that’s the biggest fight right now. And that’s no disrespect to the rest of the heavyweight division. That’s no disrespect to Ciryl Gane. But if you’re looking for superstars, and you’re looking for eyeballs and excitement and people to be fired up—yeah, Alex Pereira versus Tom Aspinall.”
Rumor mills started churning when Pereira weighed 243.8 pounds. Fans and professionals believed that he was ready to move to the heavyweight division. However, ‘Poatan’ claimed that he’s focused on a rematch against Magomed Ankalaev. He seems hellbent on reclaiming his LHW title. And the timeline? “Well, anywhere around the timeframe of September, October, or November for me, it makes no difference, I just want to fight,” he announced.
We can’t really move Pereira out of the heavyweight title picture. But first, Aspinall will have to defend his belt against Gane or Derrick Lewis. All we need to do right now is wait for the UFC’s matchmakers to arrive at a decision. But who would you like to go up against the heavyweight champion? Ciryl Gane, Derrick Lewis, or Alex Pereira?
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