Dana White: ‘If Jon Jones wants to fight again after Saturday night, he’ll fight Tom Aspinall’

If Jon Jones plans to fight again after facing Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, he has only one option and that is a showdown with interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

That’s according to UFC CEO Dana White, who responded to Jones’ comments before his fight on Saturday, in which he has repeatedly shut down a potential fight against Aspinall and instead favors a matchup with UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. Jones even went so far as to say that Aspinall is “such an ass that I don’t want to do business with him.”

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

“If Jon Jones wants to fight again after Saturday night, he will fight Tom Aspinall.”

That’s good news for Aspinall, who is currently in New York to play backup for the Jones-Miocic fight on Saturday,

Aspinall claimed the interim heavyweight title almost exactly a year ago after Jones suffered a torn pectoral muscle that forced him to postpone the fight against Miocic. Meanwhile, Aspinall defended his interim belt with a stunning first round knockout over Curtis Blaydes back in July.

Since then, Aspinall has repeatedly called for the fight against Jones, while stating that he is facing Miocic for the “most contested title” in the UFC.

Everything Aspinall said has only made Jones dig in his heels that much more as he approaches the potential fight, but White says it’s the only match he’s willing to make.

“Jon is weird in how he handles this type of thing,” White said. “The way he turns up for a game like this, he’ll be prepared mentally, physically and everything else, and when the game’s over he kind of goes and disappears and he wants to challenge himself again and Tom Aspinall is there. He does the whole ‘he doesn’t deserve it’ thing… but Jon, when he was 23 years old and he became the youngest champion ever, someone gave him the opportunity for greatness, I think Jon will eventually come back and face Tom Aspinall.

“But if he decides on Saturday night that’s it, it’s over, it’s his right to make that decision. What this guy has achieved, nobody else has even come close to achieving and he’s the greatest ever. So we’ll see.”

White is pretty adamant when it comes to Jones either taking the Aspinall fight or calling it a career, but he refuses to believe the reigning UFC heavyweight champion is actually letting anyone down.

That narrative has plagued Jones in the days leading up to his fight against Miocic, but White promises it couldn’t be further from the truth.

“For somebody to say he’s ducking somebody, Jon Jones is like 37, 38 years old, he’s fought everybody,” White said. “He has fought all the best in the world, in their prime, and has done so since he was 23 years old. He doesn’t appear. And he’s undefeated, he’s never lost a fight, which is incredible for 16 years.”

For all the ways Jones has refused to even acknowledge Aspinall as a potential opponent, White won’t close the door on the fight actually happening down the road.

If Jones wins on Saturday, White expects him to take some time off before deciding whether to compete again. Assuming Jones wants to return for another fight, White is confident he will take on Aspinall.

“That’s classic Jon Jones right there. Classic Jon Jones,” White said. “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, and then will the money talk.If he doesn’t decide to retire, he absolutely, positively fights Aspinall.