Dricus du Plessis thinks fellow UFC champion Tom Aspinall is the future.
Aspinall officially became the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight titleholder following the retirement of Jon Jones, having held an interim title since 2023. With Jones, the previous undisputed champion out of the picture, du Plessis expects Aspinall to have a lengthy run at the top.
“The first time you saw Tom Aspinall fight, you knew there was something special,” du Plessis told Betway South Africa. “He’s almost the next generation of heavyweight, in my opinion, where he moves like a middleweight. He’s light on his feet. He can grapple, he can strike, he can wrestle, so I’m really happy for him. I think he’s going to be a great champion and I think he’s going to be a champion for a long time.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of heavyweights on his level right now.”
Du Plessis and Aspinall both broke onto the UFC scene around the same time, with du Plessis’ debut taking place on a UFC Fight Island card in October 2020, a date that marked Aspinall’s second octagon appearance. Fast forward to now and du Plessis is weeks away from his third middleweight title defense against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319, while Aspinall defends his title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in October.
Though Aspinall was unable to secure a unification bout with Jones (who defeated Gane at UFC 285 to claim a belt vacated by Francis Ngannou), his heavyweight résumé is undeniably impressive: Eight wins and just one loss, the latter of which came due to a freak knee injury in 15 seconds against Curtis Blaydes and that Aspinall avenged in July 2024.
Amazingly, also featured on that fateful Fight Island lineup was the debut of future lightweight and featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. “El Matador” recently claimed a vacant 155-pound title with a spectacular knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 and du Plessis thinks he’s already done enough to be immortalized in the UFC Hall of Fame.
“He was literally in my changing room,” du Plessis said of Topuria. “We were on the same trajectory, winning our titles one month apart. I’m super happy for him. I think he’s one of those special characters who’s going to be a Hall of Famer, no doubt.
“Unbeaten. He’s the first unbeaten guy to have two titles. I’m super happy for him and I rate him very highly as an all-around fighter, and obviously his striking, power, in knocking out three legends. I think he’s incredible and, in my opinion, one of the best, if not the best in the UFC right now.”
