Interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has said that his next fight must be for the undisputed heavyweight title — but according to UFC analyst Din Thomas, circumstances may dictate otherwise.

Aspinall, the interim champ since November 2023, has so far drawn a blank in his pursuit of Jon Jones despite UFC boss Dana White’s insistence that he is “100% confident” that the fight will take place in the near-to-medium term future.

But with the heavyweight totem pole effectively is stasis throughout Jones’ inactivity, Thomas says that the UFC may tempt Aspinall to put his interim crown on the line for a second time at the UFC 317 main event in late June; the jewel in the crown of the UFC’s annual ‘International Fight Week.’

“I’m thinking you have to go Tom Aspinall somewhere in this,” Thomas told MMA Junkie.

“You have to. How do you not go with the heavyweight champion of the world? He wants to fight in the summer. I’m thinking you have to go Tom Aspinall somewhere. Now whether that’s Jon Jones, Ciryl Gane, Derrick Lewis, I don’t know which one, but it’s got to be Tom Aspinall vs. somebody for International Fight Week to kick things off.”

There is no denying that this would be a tough sell for Aspinall — but as happened so often before in the fight business, money talks.

“I think they convince Tom Aspinall to fight Ciryl Gane,” Thomas explained. “I think if I had to put my money on it, I think that’s the one… we’re two months out and I think they’ll throw a number at Ciryl Gane. It won’t be ideal for him, but they’ll throw a number that he can’t refuse and he’ll have to take it and I think it makes more sense that way.”