Following Jon Jones’ retirement, which has led to Tom Aspinall being promoted to heavyweight champion, Jailton Almeida has expressed his desire for a title shot against Aspinall.

Almeida, who holds a professional record of 22-3 and is coming off a TKO win over Serghei Spivac at UFC 311, believes his record makes him the most deserving contender. He is 9-1 in the UFC, with his only loss at heavyweight being to Curtis Blaydes. While Ciryl Gane, ranked second in the division, is considered the favorite for Aspinall’s first title defense, Almeida believes he has more of a claim. He stated he is “the only guy in the division asking to fight Tom Aspinall,” noting that “Ciryl Gane is shooting movies, Pavlovich already fought him and has another fight booked.”

“It’s going to be a great fight because our styles are similar. He’s fast. Not surprisingly he’s the champion. What I’ve seen from Tom Aspinall is that he doesn’t fight five rounds. He’s never fought five rounds in his life. He gets tired after the second. Tom Aspinall was never tested to fight more than three rounds. I’m doing six, seven rounds in the gym already, and I’m not even training to fight yet.

“If I fight Tom Aspinall, I’ll take him to the third round to see how he does,” Almeida said. “But Aspinall is no fool, he’s very experienced and has fought tough opponents, so I have to be smart and come up with a good strategy to beat him. To me, when the cage closes there, it’s a war. I’m ready for a war,” Almeida said