Whatever happened to the UFC’s heavyweight division?

The big men have always been the talk of the town. Whether it’s boxing, wrestling or MMA, heavyweight is where the money’s at. Historically, combat sports have always valued the bigger men. As far back as Jack Johnson and Jow Lewing, heavyweight has always been where the big boys play and make the most money. As far as the UFC is concerned, you can clearly see Dana White’s disdain for the flyweight division. The man threatened to cut the entire division at one point in time. Even now when challenged about the P4P rankings, he ignorantly parrots the Jon Jones argument of winning at heavyweight, never mind that he vehemently ducked the undisputed champ in Francis Ngannou. It also helps that heavyweight tend to have a bit more staying power than the lighter weight classes. Case in point, Andrei Arlovski was still fighting in the UFC just a few weeks ago. 

Where does the UFC HW division go from here?

With the departure of Ngannou, the UFC’s heavyweight division is a shell of its former self. You’ve got a worthy interim champ in Tom Aspinall who’s taking on Curtis Blaydes next weekend at UFC 304. The actual champ is off playing cops and robbers AGAIN! To say that the decision is in disarray would be an understatement. Jon Jones is looking to fight Stipe Miocic, for god knows what reason. It’s not even a money fight at this point. No one even cares about it. Fans want to see divisions move on and champions take on contenders, not this chaos that the division is in. If Jon is unwilling to defend the ‘real’ title against a worthy contender, then strip the man. If he’s as good as we all think he is, he’ll find his way back to the belt again. Meanwhile, Tom Aspinall is here defending his interim title! The last time an interim HW champ defended the title was when Andrei Arlovski knocked out Justin Eilers at UFC 53 in 2005! That was 19 years ago! 

This could have all been avoided if the UFC had just played ball with Ngannou. But, it can also be said that what Nbannou was asking for was unreasonable. We’ll never know the truth, but at the end of the day, the division is in complete freefall because the UFC is the UFC and they don’t play the game. In many ways, they are the game! Ngnannou’s made a bucket load of cash through his boxing matches but I honestly don’t ever see him stepping foot into a cage ever again. There’s no incentive for him to fight in MMA ever again. The pay is just too low. 

Who’s the next big thing at heavyweight?

It’s clear that the heir apparent to the HW throne is Britain’s Tommy Aspinall but does he have what it takes to stake his claim as the baddest man on the planet? Well, if he beats Curtis on the 28th, we’ll have a clearer answer. But, for him to really showcase his skillset and attain that legacy he’s been fighting for, he needs, no HAS TO fight Jon Jones. It’s the only way people will legitimize his championship run. If Jon has no interest, then there’ll forever be this cloud hanging over Aspinall’s head.