Tom Aspinall shares prediction for Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida fight at UFC 321

Tom Aspinall knows his next fight will come from the winner of Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida at UFC 321 if he also wins on that card.

Aspinall is set to defend his heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 321 against Ciryl Gane. Heading into the bout, Aspinall is a sizable -460 favorite while the Frenchman is a +320 underdog on FanDuel. Also on the UFC 321 card is a No. 1 contender bout at heavyweight featuring Volkov taking on Almeida.

Although Aspinall’s focus will be on Gane, he will be paying close attention to that fight. But, he expects the Russian to get his hand raised to earn the next crack at his heavyweight belt.

“I actually thought that Volkov won the fight against Gane, to be honest,” Aspinall said to BloodyElbow. “I think Volkov is in really good form right now, I do think Almeida is good. I’ve not seen enough of Almeida’s game to say how good he actually is. At this point, it’s hard to say, but I would favor Volkov in that one.”

Aspinall is not alone in thinking Volkov should have gotten the decision win over Gane in his last fight. So it could have been them fighting for the belt at UFC 321.

Tom Aspinall expects to face the winner of Volkov-Almeida

Yet, despite Tom Aspinall already having a first-round submission win over Volkov, he believes the rematch would be next.

“That’s how I see it, and I think that’s pretty obvious,” Aspinall said when asked if the winner of Volkov-Almeida would get the next title shot.

Aspinall was promoted to the undisputed heavyweight champion after Jon Jones announced his retirement. He has held the interim belt since November 2023, when he scored a knockout win over Sergei Pavlovich in the first round.

Aspinall is 15-3 as a pro and coming off a knockout win over Curtis Blaydes to defend the interim belt. He’s 8-1 in the UFC with his lone loss coming when he tore his knee in the first fight against Blaydes.