Tom Aspinall has spotted his "obvious" next UFC opponent in the winner of Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida, rather than the highly-desired fight with Jon Jones.
England's heavyweight champion puts his belt on the line for the first time on Saturday against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi.
Aspinall hasn't fought for 14 months despite being touted as an opponent for Jones, arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time.
And he doesn't expect to finally fight Jones after Gane, either, instead pointing towards the UFC 321 undercard for his next rival.
Alexander Volkov and Jailton Almeida collide in the heavyweight division before Aspinall vs. Gane, and that could tee up the next challenger to the title.
"I think it's pretty obvious that they're going to do winners vs. winner - me [or] Gane vs. Volkov [or] Almeida," Aspinall said this week in Abu Dhabi.
"The winner of us against the winner of them, I think will be next for the heavyweight title."
ESPN ranked Russian contender Volkov as No.4 in the heavyweight division before this weekend's fights. Almeida is listed as No.6 in the division which Aspinall rules, with Saturday's opponent Gane as No.2.
But intriguingly Aspinall has already fought the veteran Volkov, submitting him in 2022.
Meanwhile, Jones -- who continues to elude Aspinall -- has been mentioned as an opponent for Alex Pereira, whose own CV has earned him No.5 spot on ESPN's pound-for-pound rankings.
Aspinall was asked about his tough road to finding a big-name rival, and said: "There are still guys who want it, just maybe not the bigger names.
"Those guys have done enough to do whatever they want.
"I am the champion and I fight the No.1 contender, that's how, in my opinion, champions are supposed to work.
"If you are the guy, you fight the next guy, rinse and repeat, for as long as possible."