Tom Aspinall was elevated to UFC Heavyweight Champion early this past summer in the wake of Jon Jones optioning to retire from the sport of MMA. At the time of Jones’ retirement, Aspinall (15-3, 1 NC MMA, 8-1, 1 NC UFC) had already defended the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship once.
A July 27, 2024 first-round knockout victory due to a counter jab followed by ground and pound strikes turned out to be Aspinall’s one and only defense of the interim title at 265 lbs. From there, he was out of action for north of 15 months.