Athletes
The Heavyweight Division | 2026 Preview
The Heavyweight Forecast Is Cloudy Heading Into 2026, But That Means It Is Also Primed For High-Drama
The heavyweight division is, at present, complicated. Last year started with Jon Jones as its champion and Tom Aspinall as the defending interim champion, but instead of a unification bout, “Bones” hung up his gloves (for now), making Aspinall the undisputed champion. A new era was upon us, but to say it got off to a rocky start is an understatement. In his first undisputed defense, Aspinall fought Ciryl Gane, but their long-awaited matchup was called in the first round after Gane poked Aspinall in the eye, rendering the champion unable to continue.
Aspinall’s future is dependent on however long it takes his eyes to recover and for him to get back into training, leaving the division once again in a sort of limbo at the top. As is his wont, Jones has expressed interest in returning to the Octagon albeit against light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. Whether that has anything to do with titles is only speculation at this point, but question marks are buzzing around the big boys heading into 2026.
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Title Picture
Champion: Tom Aspinall
Contenders: Ciryl Gane, Alexander Volkov, Waldo Cortes Acosta
Ones to Watch: Sergei Pavlovich, Jailton Almeida, Alex Pereira, Jon Jones
Outlook for 2026: Aspinall seemed set to lead the division into a new chapter when he was promoted to undisputed champion in 2025. That came to a screeching halt at UFC 321, leaving the 32-year-old frustrated, annoyed and incapable of doing what he loves. An unfortunate circumstance was made worse when a section of the fanbase cast Aspinall in a negative light despite him being on the receiving end of the foul. Aspinall has more or less announced he is taking a “no more Mr. Nice Guy” approach going forward when the affable Brit returns to competition and has already made it a point to criticize Gane’s work in the Octagon. With the mounting tension and the intriguing sample of their first fight, a rematch between Aspinall and Gane is certainly of interest.
While the division is at times criticized for a lack of depth, the quality of its top flight is certainly there. Alexander Volkov continued his somewhat surprising ascent in 2025 with a decision win over Jailton Almeida at UFC 321, which was presumptively a No. 1 contender bout. That win was Volkov’s fifth in his last six since Aspinall submitted him in 2022, and 37-year-old seems to have improved in leaps and bounds since.
However, the heavyweight who did the most for himself in 2025 (literally and figuratively) was Waldo Cortes Acosta. Appearing five times, Cortes Acosta sandwiched a loss to Sergei Pavlovich between pair of wins over Ryan Spann and Serghei Spivac to start the year and two first-round knockouts in November over Ante Delija and Shamil Gaziev. His win over Gaziev was particularly impressive as it came 21 days after his previous fight with Cortes Acosta arriving in Doha for the bout on Friday morning for weigh-ins. The Dominican Republic representative continues his high activity rate in 2026 when he faces UFC’s knockout king Derrick Lewis at UFC 324.
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Outside of those two, Pavlovich and Almeida are the other two heavyweights hoping to make their cases for title contention albeit with more work to do. Pavlovich got out his funk in 2025 and scored decision wins over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Cortes Acosta, and he goes into 2026 hoping to extend that streak and tally his first knockout since April 2023. Almeida sort of ran into a wall against Volkov, his lack of activity when gaining top control a major point of frustration for the talented Brazilian. However, he is still a beast of a fighter, and at 34 years old, there are plenty of examples of athletes who put it together and take the next step, particularly in the heavyweight division.
Other Names to Track: Derrick Lewis, Valter Walker
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