Overview

• Jon Jones retired at UFC Baku, prompting UFC president Dana White to automatically crown interim titleholder Tom Aspinall as undisputed heavyweight champion.
• Aspinall has secured his first title defense date and pledged to fight four times over the next year to defeat every top-10 contender.
• Former champion Daniel Cormier said Jones’s five-round experience would have given him the edge over Aspinall and suggested concerns about that matchup influenced the timing of Jones’s retirement.
• Jones reentered the UFC testing pool in early July, fueling insider speculation about a potential comeback against the new champion.
• As Aspinall begins his reign, contenders such as Ciryl Gane and Francis Ngannou loom as the most likely challengers to his undisputed title.