How NOT To Run A Heavyweight Division

How NOT To Run A Heavyweight Division

NEW YORK — Dana White’s recent media obligation post-fight to the Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn bout gave us an interesting wrinkle into what the UFC president believes the heavyweight division should look to do. 

“Yeah, we’ll definitely be talking about that.” 

This response came in answer to whether or not the UFC would look into stripping current heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall. The Englishman, who has taken the promotion by storm with a combination of elite speed and devastating power, has been sidelined due to a litany of surgeries stemming from his eye injury at UFC 321. With October 25 rapidly approaching, it would have been a whole calendar year since Aspinall has fought in the octagon, thus leaving the division in limbo and in a state of uncertainty. 

So basically, the same way that it always has. 

The easy notion is not the interesting one; Tom Aspinall, as he continues to rehab from his eye injury, should vacate the title and allow the division to “move on.” After all, White cited the fact that Kyrgyzstani flyweight Valentina Shevchenko was surrendering her division crown for the same reason; “…like Valentina doesn’t want to tie up the division, and I’m assuming that Tom feels the same way…We should clear that up soon.”

In order for Dana and the UFC to put out the best fights at heavyweight, Aspinall must give up the title, come back from injury, and fight his way back to gold, just like Valentina. What is grossly understated, however, is the mere juxtaposition of the two fighters. In the words of Colby Covington, this isn’t the Ultimate Feelings Championship, as he so affectionately mocks opponents with. Fighters and stripped titles go hand-in-hand in the sport, and even in the end, Aspinall should follow suit, set aside his crown for the division’s sake. 

To not acknowledge the basic unfairness of his circumstance, however, would be downright negligent. Setting the aforementioned Shevchenko aside, Aspinall’s chase for heavyweight supremacy, in itself, is the very thing that Dana White is now “looking” to avoid. Going back to his demolition of potential heavyweight great Sergei Pavlovich in just over a minute, Aspinall has had a upward trek to stand alone as the face of the division. He was the very man who got screwed by Dana’s tolerance for inactive champions.

From 2023-25, Aspinall sat patiently as Jon Jones was sidelined with injury, then spent a prolonged period not without giving Tom his rightful shot. The UFC brass did nothing to implore Jones, having their golden goose remain champ as the exciting Brit was forced to defend his interim title twice. Asking Tom to give up his title, a belt that he waited roughly two years for, is not only categorically unfair, but downright hypocritical. Why should he be the martyr of a new standard of a division known to remain in crisis. Does Dana not view this hyper-exciting fighter to be a star? Is he thinking about the inherent inequity of the situation, or does he not care? 

Regardless of what the final verdict is, the bottom line is clear: the UFC killed their heavyweight division, and is now using their biggest star to attempt its resurrection.