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Andreas Hale, ESPN
UFC CEO Dana White says that if heavyweight champion Jon Jones has plans to continue fighting after facing Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 on Saturday, there is only one option and that is to face current interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
White appeared on “The Jim Rome Show” to address Jones’ claims that he has no interest in facing Aspinall and will instead look to face light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira should he successfully defend his title against Miocic. White unequivocally shut down the idea and made it clear that Jones has only one option should he want to continue his fighting career in the UFC.
“If Jon Jones wants to fight again after Saturday night, he will fight Tom Aspinall,” White said.
Jones has remained adamant that a unification fight isn’t in his plans and has gone as far to say that he is willing to vacate the championship to face Pereira for a version of the “BMF” championship. As his fight with Miocic inches closer, Jones has dug his heels in, stating that Aspinall is an “a–hole” he doesn’t want to do business with. However, White isn’t on board with that idea.
“He’s not fighting Pereira,” White said. “[Pereira] was a middleweight that moved up to light heavyweight. He’s also a kickboxer who has done very, very well in MMA. His wrestling isn’t even near the level of Jon Jones, and Jon Jones is way bigger than him.”
Pereira is a former middleweight champion who moved up to light heavyweight and captured UFC gold in November 2023. The Brazilian has defended the championship a UFC-record three times in 175 days. He has teased a move to heavyweight to become the first fighter to win world championships in three weight classes, and Jones appears to be more than willing to accept the challenge.
Jones is a former light heavyweight champion who moved up to heavyweight last year and won the vacant championship against Ciryl Gane in March 2023. Jones was scheduled to make his first title defense against Miocic last November. However, he suffered an injury that ultimately postponed the fight. Aspinall’s fight with Sergei Pavlovich was elevated to an interim title fight, which the British fighter won with a first-round knockout.
Aspinall is 8-1 in the UFC, with all eight of his wins coming in less than seven minutes of fight time and with his only loss coming when he injured his leg in the opening seconds against Curtis Blaydes. While Aspinall has been on a historic run, White wouldn’t go as far to say Jones was ducking Aspinall.
“For anybody to say that he is ducking anybody, Jon Jones is like 37, 38 years old. He has fought everybody. He has fought the best in the world in their prime and been doing it since he was 23 years old. He doesn’t duck anybody,” White said.
Although a fight between Jones and Pereira might be one of the biggest the UFC can put together, White is keen on Aspinall getting his opportunity to unify the titles and thinks Jones will eventually come around on the idea.
“That is classic Jon Jones right there,” White said about the champion’s recent temperament. “Jon will do what he does on Saturday; if he wins, he will disappear for a while, and then that competitive spirit will start bubbling up again. Then money will talk. If he doesn’t decide to retire, he will absolutely, positively fight Tom Aspinall.”
