Interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, who has ruled out Alex Pereira as a potential opponent, has revealed who he plans to share the octagon with this year.
The Brit believes the challenger for his title will be decided in a bout between Curtis Blades and Jailton Almeida, which takes place March 9 at UFC 299 in Miami.
“Winner of the fight between Blades and Almeida sounds good,” Aspinall wrote on social media.
Tom Aspinall won the interim championship belt on Nov. 11 at UFC 295 in New York, knocking out Russian Sergey Pavlovich as early as the 69th second of the fight. The organization’s management made the decision to play out the interim title after reigning division champion Jon Jones dropped out of the numbered event with an injury and was scheduled to make a defense against Stipe Miocic.
That said, the head of the world’s strongest league, Dana White, has stated that they will not strip the American of his title, and will hold a scheduled fight with Miocic after the champion returns, with Aspinall defending the interim belt.
Curtis Blades and Jailton Almeida are currently ranked fifth and seventh in the UFC heavyweight rankings, respectively.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/33546-tom-aspinall-nazval-sleduyushchego-sopernika.html?rand=19907
