A potential clash between Jon Jones and
Tom
Aspinall appears to be closer to becoming a reality.
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While Aspinall is the interim champ, Jones has long delayed a
heavyweight title unification bout against the Englishman. There
were even talks of former light heavyweight champ Alex
Pereira surpassing Aspinall for a superfight against Jones.
However, that discussion seems to have ended after Pereira lost his
title to Magomed
Ankalaev via a unanimous decision at UFC 313
on Saturday. UFC CEO Dana White also acknowledged the same and
confirmed that Jones will fight Aspinall. While hopes of the
matchup were initially bleak, White now claims that Jones as agreed
to the bout and the promotion is looking for a date and place.
White also reiterated a previous statement that the plan is to hold
Jones vs. Aspinall sometime in the summer.
“Jon Jones definitely wants the fight, just when and where is what
we’re working on now,” White said at the UFC 313 post-fight press
conference. “I’m very confident that that fight happens.”
Aspinall’s hopes were also raised by White’s recent comments.
“Honey Badger” believes things are close for the bout to come
fruition.
“Jon, there’s only one way, there’s only one thing to do mate,”
Aspinall said on his YouTube channel. “Sign the contract and let’s
get a date going. We’ve seen [on Saturday night], Dana White was
talking, everything is now done on Jon’s side. And the UFC now have
to find a date and a venue. So we’re waiting for that, we’ve got
some good news coming hopefully.”
Jones returned to action after a three-year hiatus in 2023 and made
quick work of Ciryl Gane
to win the heavyweight title at UFC 285. While he was scheduled to
defend his strap against Stipe
Miocic, Jones was sidelined due to an injury. Aspinall went on
to win the interim strap against Sergei
Pavlovich in the meantime and then defended it against Curtis
Blaydes. Jones remained adamant on preserving the fight against
Miocic, whom he beat via third-round TKO at UFC 309 this past
November.