Dana White has doubled down on rebooking Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic
even after Tom Aspinall won the interim heavyweight title against
Sergei Pavlovich on Saturday.
Advertisement
While Jones and Miocic were originally scheduled to headline
UFC
295 at Madison Square Garden, “Bones” was forced off the card
due to a torn pectoral tendon. An interim title fight between
Aspinall and Pavlovich was put together at the last minute, with
White claiming that it would have been disrespectful to offer an
interim fight to Miocic.
Aspinall went on score a massive first-round KO win over Pavlovich,
with Jones praising the newly-crowned interim champ. Many fans and
pundits believe Aspinall and Pavlovich should have been fighting
for the undisputed title to begin with, as Jones’ recovery is
likely to take a while.
However, White has previously stated that he plans on rebooking the
Jones vs. Miocic fight, with the winner potentially facing the
interim champ. The UFC head honcho’s plans remain unchanged by
Aspinall’s UFC 291 victory over Pavlovich.
“No. You do [Jones vs. Miocic]. Those two both deserve that fight,
that’s the fight they want,” White said at Saturday’s post-fight
press conference. “What I love is that Jon Jones, as soon as he
heard he was injured and knew how bad it was, he went right to LA
and got the surgery and he’s already in rehab. Physical therapy, I
should say. Physical therapy.”
If the original UFC 295 main event had proceeded as planned, there
was a chance that both Jones and Miocic might have retired after
the fight. According to White, nothing is set in stone regarding
Miocic’s future plans.
“I had lunch the other day with Stipe… It’s one of those fights,
you have the best heavyweight of all time versus the greatest
martial artist of all time,” White said. “That’s the fight they
want. That’s the fight that makes sense. That’s the fight that
should happen. I asked Stipe [if he would retire after fighting
Jones], he said, ‘I don’t even know. All I care about right now is
Jon Jones. It’s the only thing I’m focused on.'”