White — Jones’ next enemy ‘absolutely’ would be Aspinall, not Pereira

UFC CEO Dana White says that if heavyweight champion Jon Jones 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 light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira should he defend his title against Miocic. White unequivocally shut down the idea, making it clear that Jones only has one option if he wants 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 bout is not in his plans and has gone so far as to say 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 in, stating that Aspinall is an “a–hole” he does not want to do business with. However, White is not on board with that idea.

“He’s not fighting Pereira,” White said. “(Pereira) was a middleweight who moved up to light heavyweight. He’s also a kickboxer who has done very, very well in MMA. His wrestling is not even close to the level of Jon Jones, and Jon Jones is much bigger than him.”

Pereira is a former middleweight champion who moved up to light heavyweight and won 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 seems 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 knockout in the first round.

Aspinall is 8-1 in the UFC, with all eight of his wins coming in less than seven minutes of fight time and 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 so far as to say Jones failed Aspinall.

“For somebody to say he’s duping somebody, Jon Jones is like 37, 38 years old. He’s fought everybody. He’s fought the best in the world in their prime and been doing it since he was 23 years old. He doesn’t don’t doll anyone,” White said.

While a fight between Jones and Pereira might be one of the biggest the UFC could put together, White is keen for Aspinall to get his opportunity to collect the titles and believes Jones will eventually come around to the idea.

“That’s classic Jon Jones right there,” White said of the champion’s recent temper. “Jon will do what he does on Saturday; if he wins, he’ll go away for a while and then that competitive spirit starts to bubble up again. Then the money will talk. If he doesn’t decide to retire, he absolutely will, fight positively against Tom Aspinall.”