Well, Tom Aspinall got us all with his heavyweight news. On May 26, the UFC interim heavyweight champion promised fans “heavyweight news incoming” on May 28. And with the fate of the Jon Jones-Tom Aspinall heavyweight unification bout giving fans sleepless nights, you can imagine people were expecting an update on that fight.

So when the Englishman revealed that the big news was him launching a new ‘heavyweight’ line with apparel company Champion, fans were incensed. To be fair to Aspinall, he had made it clear in his original post that the promise was not related to a fight announcement. Despite that, even experts like Daniel Cormier, who follow and commentate the sport for a living, are upset at Aspinall and feel cheated by the Englishman. In fact, ‘DC’ fears that if Aspinall continues to tease announcements like this and does not come through, he might become the heel instead of Jon Jones.

“I think he’s trying to do things to kind of annoy Jones, or show him that he doesn’t care… It’s like… the guys are missing a little bit. It’s big news, but if it’s a little bit known, it’s not as big. That was just Tom trolling, he’s like ‘I don’t care Jon, you’re getting dipped by Dagestanis. You’re riding go-karts in freaking Thailand,'” Cormier said on his ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy Show’.

“Well, you’re so cool, I’m cool too, and doing other things. So that’s not– it is off-brand, but it seemed to upset the fans. The one thing Tom can’t do, though, he’s got to be very careful, Chael, because right now he’s got everybody on his side. Everybody is like ‘fight Tom Aspinal, we want to see you fight Tom Aspinal.’ H—, there is a petition with over 100,000 signatures to strip Jon Jones right now. Tom is the guy. You don’t want to turn the fans, though. He’s got to be very careful not to turn him… Do you worry that if he starts to play that behavior too much, eventually the fans will go not only does Jon Jones need to be stripped, you do too because you haven’t fought,'” Cormier added.

And ‘DC,’ who was Jones’ arch-rival, won’t want that to happen. But yeah, there is some truth to Cormier’s fears. Aspinall currently has the support of almost the entire MMA world. The interim champ has made clear that he desperately wants to fight for the undisputed title, preferably against Jones. But the continued uncertainty from Jones and the UFC’s side has meant that Aspinall, who is in his prime, has been forced to sit at home. Not to mention, the heavyweight division doesn’t really have much to offer at the moment either.

If not Jon Jones, who will Tom Aspinall fight next?

While fans are tearing their hair over will-he-won’t-he, Jon Jones has claimed the UFC already knows his answer about the Aspinall fight. But the UFC has not announced anything, and we still have no idea whether ‘Bones’ will fight Aspinall after all. If they do, then the fight is likely to take place at the UFC’s annual MSG card in November.

But if they don’t, then Jones will have to be stripped of the title, and Aspinall will fight someone else. And at the moment, the best contender for Aspinall’s next opponent seems to be Ciryl Gane, who is ranked #2 in the division, and coming off a controversial decision win over Alexander Volkov last year, which many feel should have gone the other way.

Volkov would be the next man up, but he is coming off a loss, and thus very unlikely to fight for the title. The only other title contender in the division is #6-ranked Jailton Almeida, who is coming off two first-round KO wins. But other than that, there are very slim pickings at heavyweight at the moment. Which is why so many are still hoping Jones-Aspinall happens. What do you think about Daniel Cormier’s take on Tom Aspinall’s ‘heavyweight news’?