Dana White has defended Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic’s expected clash in November, and addressed whether British UFC star Tom Aspinall would fight the winner.
Jones and Miocic were originally scheduled to face off for the heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 295 last November.
However, Jon Jones suffered a torn pectoral muscle, with the UFC deciding to postpone the fight entirely instead of having backup fighter Sergei Pavlovich step in against Miocic.
UFC 309 in November at Madison Square Garden is yet to be announced but Jones and Miocic are expected to finally square off.
‘What do I do? White told the media, as per MMA Fighting, while addressing the backlash the bout has received.
‘A guy who is looked at as the greatest heavyweight in the UFC, this fight is set up, Jon Jones gets hurt, it’s not his fault. He has to wait and go back into f***ing training camp again. He was training.
‘So do I just yank it away from Stipe and say go f*** yourself and sit on the sidelines for two more years?
‘If I did that, you guys would be like, ‘Oh, you f***ing disrespected the greatest heavyweight ever!’ and so would the f***ing fans. So I should just s*** on Stipe because Jon got hurt and not make the fight that he was already supposed to fight?’
Interim UFC Heavyweight champion Aspinall believes that he should be next to fight for Jon Jones’ heavyweight championship title rather than Miocic.
‘The way I look at it, I’m the best heavyweight in the world,’ Aspinall said on the ‘Believe You Me’ podcast with Michael Bisping and Anthony Smith.
‘I’m not getting my credit for it. They’re holding the belt hostage and Jon Jones is loving it. He’s loving the fact that Dana is getting on every interview possible [talking him up].’
Addressing Aspinall to the media, White said that Aspinall will get his match with Jones as long as the latter beats Miocic.
‘Aspinall’s a young, badass dude,’ White said. ‘He’s got plenty of time. These guys are going to fight in November and he will fight Jon Jones if he wins, I almost guarantee you that. And if Stipe wins, we’ll figure out what’s next for Aspinall.’
White added: ‘I guarantee you this, if Stipe wins, Stipe is going to retire. This will be Stipe’s last fight. So are you, the media, telling me I should just tell Stipe to f*** off?
‘Good luck to you Stipe, ride off into the sunset, go fight some fires and that’s a wrap for you buddy, because Jon got hurt.’ Or do I show this guy the respect that I should show him and give them both the fight that they want? That’s the position I’m in.
‘If Stipe was 32 years old, then yeah, [an interim title fight] is probably what we do. But this is probably Stipe’s last fight, win or lose, and I’m not going to disrespect the guy. He accepted the fight, he was ready for the fight, and Jon got injured.’