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Tom Aspinall gives brutally honest opinion on UFC's biggest problem

Originally posted on MMA on SI | By Mathew Riddle | Last updated Jul 6, 2025 4:37 PM ET

Tom Aspinall was brutally honest about his perception of the current UFC heavyweight division.

MMA, like boxing, treats the heavyweight division like the prestige weight class; when a heavyweight title fight takes place, everyone is watching.

However, the talent pool in heavyweight MMA is extremely shallow, largely due to low pay and high-risk scenarios that drive larger athletes into other sports. Aspinall is aware of this.

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UFC heavyweight is in a sorry state and Tom Aspinall knows it

As of now, the heavyweight division is the weakest of the men's divisions by a long shot.

With roughly thirty fighters on the heavyweight roster, approximately half of all UFC heavyweights are ranked. It becomes even more damning when considering the skill disparity between the UFC's heaviest division and those beneath it.

The last heavyweight finish, before UFC Nashville this weekend, was over 100 days ago.

This is the last UFC heavyweight finish, which was 105 days ago.

◼️HW fights in 2025: 14
Finishes - 6 (43%)
Decisions - 8 (57%)

◼️HW fights in 2024: 33
Finishes - 17 (51%)
Decisions - 16 (49%)

Conclusion, heavyweight is so bad #UFC317 pic.twitter.com/D81rUUcyRV
— Ovin Vithanage (@OvinVithanage) June 28, 2025

Finally ascending the heavyweight throne, new champion Tom Aspinall now has to come face-to-face with the drought of talent in the UFC's big man division.

"The heavyweight division is not exactly on fire," Aspinall told Adam Catterall on One on One. "... I think the talent's there. But if you look five-plus years ago, just the name value in the top fifteen was incredible.

"We're talking guys like Fabricio Werdum, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, Mark Hunt, Alistair Overeem, Brock Lesnar... Stipe Miocic, the list goes on and on. . . . Whereas now... I look through the top fifteen and I'm like, I've not really seen [these heavyweights] fight before.

". . . [In the next few years] I think there's going to be more big fights at heavyweight. People are going to become bigger names..."

Aspinall confirmed he has a fight lined up, but what names could match even a fraction of the excitement of the fizzled Jon Jones fight? It's a problem the UFC needs to solve by cultivating its superstars.