Who is the biggest threat to Tom Aspinall at heavyweight?

[TheWizard]

Besides Jon Jones (obiously he'd be the number 1 pick), which we'll probably never see, my picks would be Gane and Almeida.

Gane has the striking to hang with Tom, but is at a big grappling deficit. He has proven cardio though unlike Tom and could make things interesting if the fight went into round 2. Not sure Tom takes him down as easily as Jones did, Jones is a much more proven wrestler than Tom at this stage.

Almeida is a real heavyweight now with great grappling and athleticism. He'd need to get Tom down very early because realistically he has no chance on the feet, but it would be interesting to see Tom's takedown defense get tested for once.

Aspinall would still be the favourite over both of course, he's simply the more complete and dangerous fighter, but they are probably the biggest threats (besides Jones) at this point.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Dana White

 

[Deleted member 513083]

Atm I think he would be the favorite over everyone, I doubt Jones will fight him after Stipe but if it happens he still would be the favorite after his last performances.

I ate my crow after the Pavlovich fight but at HW everything can happen so who knows.
I would not even be surprised if he loses by a fluke KO in the future.
Gane has to get through Volkov first and eventhough Volkov lost convincingly against Aspinal the first time around I would not count him out he looked great vs Pavlovich.
Unlike most others I am not dismissing Gane after the Jones fight, he still moves incredible for an HW. If he had more KO power he would be a true nightmare to fight.

Even though I like Almeida I feel he would get stopped rather easily if Aspinall finds the chin. Doubt it will ever happen but Nemkov could be a candidate but he might be too small.

If Jones looks like a superhuman vs Miocic and he takes the fight maybe, but as someone who followed Jones career you cannot to be sure WTF will happen with that guy.

 

[ArtardFiesta]

it's heavyweight. they all hit hard. tai tuivasa who imo is a can has a shot at beating tom. Derrick lewis is another one.

 

[xhaydenx]

Gane, I suppose.

If Jailton could wrestlefuck him for a couple rounds, things might get interesting. Tom has only been out of the 1st round in 18 fights, so it'll be interesting to see how his cardio actually is.

 

[payton]

Volkov 2.0

 

[DrRodentia]

There's this guy named Chris Barnett you all seem to be conveniently overlooking.

 

[Trabaho]

it's heavyweight. they all hit hard. tai tuivasa who imo is a can has a shot at beating tom. Derrick lewis is another one.

just stop





I agree Gane. I don´t think Almeida can do it.

After Gane and Jones he has cleaned out the division

 

[Chubi]

Gane and Jones, one with the elusive striking and the other because of the incredible fight IQ. I'd favor Aspinall against Gane and Jones against Aspinal.

 

[Mammothman]

Frankly nobody.

1 Jon Jones - Fight won't happen so it's meaningless to discuss it
2 Ciryl Gane - Might give tom problems on the feet but Tom will ragdoll and sub him
3 Alexander Volkov - Already lost to tom and won't do any better
4 Curtis Blaydes - Tom just KO'd him
5 Sergei Pavlovich - Tom just KO'd him
6 Stipe Miocic - Will retire after Jones and it's too old for Tom
7 Jailton Almeida - Decent challengue but I don't think he wlill able to grapple tom, on the feet tom eats him
8 Marcin Tybura - Tom already KO'd him
9 Serghei Spivac - Tom already beat him
10 Tai Tuivasa - lol he is a CAN
11 Derrick Lewis - Journeyman on his way down
12 Jairzinho Rozenstruik - No ground game and too impatient on the feet
13 Alexandr Romanov - CAN
14 Marcos Rogerio De Lima - CAN
15 Rodrigo Nascimento - Who?

 

[OldBoy91]

Nobody would be considered the favourite against him, except maybe Jones, and that would be due to the betting lines with casuals putting money on the guy they've heard of.

The only way I ever see Tom losing is being caught on the chin by a big puncher. So Pavlovich, Blaydes, Lewis are the only guys that could land on Tom when he's coming in to range, but it isn't likely. It will likely be somebody we've not heard of yet in a few years when Tom is aging and slowing down .

 

[BJJ4Tone]

Dana White

What a fucking disappointing CRIME that this truly is the correct answer to the question.
What a piece of shit.

Dana White has done a lot to grow the UFC as an entertainment brand for sure...
BUT, he is also the reason that MMA is not a real sport.

 

[Istryker]

Dana White

 

[Tweak896]

Almeida is probably the top guy. Aspinall's only question left is how his TDD stacks up. I don't think he's a Werdum off his back either.

 

[duke_droese]

It depends how that giant Brazilian does against Ngannou. If he beats him well and has good bjj, he might be the only one with a shot.

 

[don't ask]

Dana White

I came here to say this. All White needs to do is get another stupid idea in his head and Tom's life gets much, much harder.

 

[LincolnHawk1]

I think he beats all the top heavyweights. Almeida is the one guy I think that might seriously beat him with his elite wrestling (it’s better than blaydes) and i think he will implement it instead of blaydes right off the bat. But if he can’t get Tom down in the first 3 minutes I think Tom pieces him up and folds him. Tom has great wrestling too and is super athletic for that weight class. I would give Tom the advantage, but almeaida would be a live dog imo.

 

[Blazmo]

It depends how that giant Brazilian does against Ngannou. If he beats him well and has good bjj, he might be the only one with a shot.

Renan Ferreira has quite possibly the most dangerous striking I've ever seen in MMA but he's a kitten off his back.

 

[don't ask]

Renan Ferreira has quite possibly the most dangerous striking I've ever seen in MMA but he's a kitten off his back.

Huh. Maybe I need to watch more of his fights, I've only seen a few. Any recommendations?

 

[Blazmo]

Huh. Maybe I need to watch more of his fights, I've only seen a few. Any recommendations?

Bader was a good showcase of his raw power while his fight with Maurice Greene shows he's still effective against people his own size but honestly his fights are usually either sub-minute KOs or grinding losses based on his lack of ground game so there isn't really a tonne of footage on him. His fight against Jared Vanderaa was supposed to be pretty good too I heard although I haven't seen it.