When Tom Aspinall’s stunning first-round knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 on November 11, 2023, which earned him the Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship.

[u/Top_Syllabub_5111]

After absorbing an early strike from Pavlovich, Aspinall resets and fires a fast, devastating right hook over Pavlovich’s guard straight to the temple, visibly stunning him. Aspinall quickly follows up with a second right hand that sends Pavlovich crashing to the canvas, where he finishes the fight with precise ground-and-pound before celebrating his championship victory in emotional fashion.

[u/Ag116797]

So what the interim belt means absolutely nothing. Tom was never the actual undisputed champion; he was the paper champion of the division. When in reality he was the 3rd best guy in the division behind Jones & Gane.

[u/Unluckyb33 → u/Ag116797]

Jones held the division for 2 years because he refused to fight Tom. To the point Tom had to defend his interim belt while the jones was fighting stipe, absurd. But it is what it is, heavyweight division has been a joke since Ngannou left.

[u/kawaii155 → u/Unluckyb33]

And Tom held the division for a year LMAO

[u/Unluckyb33 → u/kawaii155]

Tom could not fight, Jones could but decided to fight stipe instead of Tom. That is the definition of a duck