Dana White is dead set on Jon Jones fighting Stipe Miocic, even with interim champion Tom Aspinall in waiting.
Aspinall claimed a share of the heavyweight crown this past November with a spectacular 69-second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295. That interim title bout was made due to undisputed heavyweight champion Jon Jones having to bow out of a highly anticipated fight on that card against Stipe Miocic after suffering an injury.
Jones is expected to be out of action for at least the first quarter of 2024, which currently leaves Aspinall out of the undisputed title equation as both Jones and Miocic have insisted they only plan to fight one another. White spoke to TNT Sports about the status of the heavyweight belt, which won’t be contested between either of those men and Aspinall anytime soon.
“No,” White answered when asked if Aspinall could fight Jon Jones. “And we’re not stripping Jon Jones either. He’s the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. You’re a young guy. You were injured there for a while. You’ll get your shot. Just wait. This fight has to happen and then we’ll figure out what’s next for you.”
Whenever Jones returns, it will be for only his second fight since 2020. He defeated Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 to claim a vacant title and that bout remains his lone outing as a heavyweight for the promotion.
Aspinall also returned from injury this year, defeating Marcin Tybura and Pavlovich en route to an interim title. A debate has been raised as to whether Aspinall should wait for the Jones-Miocic winner (with the possibility that one or both retire after they fight) or just defend his own belt.
“Aspinall could possibly fight again, I don’t know,” White said. “We’ll see how this plays out going into the next year, but Jones and Stipe, the fight, they both deserve it. Jon Jones got injured, there’s nothing he can do about it. I don’t know, we’ll see what happens in ‘24.
“If Aspinall wants to fight before that fight happens, why not? Why not let him defend it?”
Miocic is also coming off a long stretch of inactivity, having not competed since losing the heavyweight title to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 in March 2021. At 41, Miocic likely only has a few—if not one—fights left that he’d like to book.
According to White, Aspinall will not be one of them, at least not next.
“Well, that ain’t happening,” White said. “Stipe, you have to understand this, if you look at what Stipe’s accomplished in this sport, what he’s done, where he’s at in his career, he wants the Jon Jones fight, and I get it. Arguably the greatest heavyweight of all time versus the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. He wants that fight.
“It’s a big legacy fight for both guys. He was ready for that fight, it was 10 days out or something, and you pull it out and now he’s fighting Aspinall? [Miocic] wants Jones and Jones wants Stipe, so it makes sense.”
Aspinall sports a 7-1 UFC record, with his one loss coming by way of injury 15 seconds into a bout against Curtis Blaydes. He has a number of potential challengers to his interim belt should he choose to defend it, including Blaydes and the undefeated Jailton Almeida (the two meet in a top-contender bout at UFC 299 on March 9).
Logically, Aspinall’s first title defense would take place in his native England. It’s a prospect that excites White if Aspinall calls for it.
“He’s the champ,” White said. “He’s got the belt right now, while Jon Jones is injured. If he wants to defend the title, we’d absolutely do it.”