Since Jon Jones defeated Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 last year, the rumor mills have been printing a new story about a potential title unification bout against Tom Aspinall. However, now that the saga is seemingly nearing actualization, UFC boss Dana White has warned against believing in whispers.
Reports have continuously claimed that Aspinall is ready and willing to fight the Rochester native later this year, with a pairing initially targeted for International Fight Week in June.
However, some stories suggested former pound-for-pound number one, Jones, may require six months to prepare for a title fight with Aspinall. But that’s once the bout is official on contract.
This week, former Octagon star Chael Sonnen made a pair of bogus and downright outlandish claims. Firstly, he claimed a date had been agreed for Jones to fight Aspinall later this year. A day later, he said Aspinall was now set to defend his interim crown first against former champion Ciryl Gane. So, naturally, White had to address the subject and set the record straight.
“Everything you hear [about Jon Jones versus Tom Aspinall] is bullsh*t, until we [the UFC] say it [announce it],” White said.
Still remaining tight-lipped on the pairing, the bossman, however, assured the media at UFC Kansas that a Jones vs Aspinall fight remained a priority for the year.
White continues to promise
So far failing in his mission to get ink on paper in a matchup of Jones and Aspinall, the CEO is not giving up hope just yet.
Maintaining since the beginning of the year, how he hopes to book the monstrous showdown before the turn of this calendar, the UFC leader continues to address the subject with the same fervor.
“I’ve said it many times, that that’s the fight [Jones versus Aspinall] is the fight we wanna make this year,” he noted, adding, “[I’m] still super confident [that fight happens in 2025].”
Interestingly, earlier today, UFC’s broadcasting partner ESPN came under fire for posting a record Jones just made, as he continues to duck the interim champion, Aspinall.
In a congratulatory post, ESPN reported that Jones had held the belt for 785 days, surpassing Stipe Miocic’s record as the heavyweight champion. He is now only behind Cain Velasquez’s 896-day record.
Jones also shared the post, much to fans’ annoyance, who were happy to remind him that while Miocic had had five title fights, Jones has only had two, and none of them have been against the interim champion to unify the title as he should have.
Notably, Jones has a history of ducking tough opponents. During his 3-year hiatus to prepare for a heavyweight move, Jones was touted to fight the then-UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
But after dilly-dallying for ages, Jones returned to the promotion just weeks after Ngannou’s departure in 2023 to fight and defeat Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight title.
And as far as interim champion Aspinall is concerned, the reason is clear as day! “Yes, absolutely (he’s scared),” Aspinall said on IMPAULSIVE.
“The thing with Jon: Jon is conning the public, man… I think the fact that he didn’t want to fight (Francis) Ngannou for three years, and now he doesn’t want to fight me over a year, and just the way he manipulates the media and the public is super smart”, he noted.
