By FCF Staff

Now that Tom Aspinall is the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight champ, Jailton Almeida says he’s the only man actively pursuing a fight with the English star.

Over the weekend, Jon Jones confirmed that he is indeed, hanging up the gloves, bringing to a close months of speculation as to whether he would fight Aspinall. Since then, Aspinall has reported he hopes to be an active champion, but it’s not clear when and who he will fight next.

More recently, Almeida spoke with MMA Fighting.com. While doing so, the Brazilian heavyweight claimed he’s the only fighter right now who is asking to face Aspinall.

“We’re hopeful. In fact, I’m the only guy in the division asking to fight Tom Aspinall. If you look at it, Volkov doesn’t ask for it. Ciryl Gane is shooting movies, Pavlovich already fought him and has another fight booked. I’m the only one left, and I’m the one calling him out.”

Almeida (22-3), who is currently ranked #5 in the heavyweight division, also had this to say about a match-up with the champion.

“It’s going to be a great fight because our styles are similar. He’s fast. Not surprisingly he’s the champion,” What I’ve seen from Tom Aspinall is that he doesn’t fight five rounds. He’s never fought five rounds in his life. He gets tired after the second. Tom Aspinall was never tested to fight more than three rounds. I’m doing six, seven rounds in the gym already, and I’m not even training to fight yet.

The 33-year-old Almeida is coming off victories over Serghei Spivac and Alexander Romanov, which followed his knockout loss to Curtis Blaydes in March, 2024.

To date, Almeida has gone 8-1 in official UFC bouts.