Dana White 'absolutely' open to Tom Aspinall defending UFC interim title – but not vs. Stipe Miocic
UFC CEO Dana White has no issues keeping Tom Aspinall busy, but he insists that Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic must happen.
Heavyweight champion Jones was forced to withdraw from his first title defense vs. Miocic at UFC 295 due to injury. The promotion replaced that matchup with an interim title fight between Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich, which Aspinall won by first-round knockout.
Up next, Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) hopes to unify his belt with undisputed champ Jones or fight Miocic while Jones recovers, but White shot down both suggestions. He is, however, open to Aspinall defending the interim title in the meantime.
“Aspinall could possibly fight again,” White told TNT Sports. “I don’t know. We’ll see how this plays out going into the next year, but Jones and Stipe, the fight, they both deserve it. Jon Jones got injured. There’s nothing he can do about it. We’ll see what happens in 2024. If Aspinall wants to fight before that fight happens, why not? Why not let him defend it.”
White argues that Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) vs. Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) makes the most sense for both fighters.
“If you look at what Stipe has accomplished in this sport, what he’s done, where he’s at in his career, he wants the Jon Jones fight, and I get it,” White said. “Arguably the greatest heavyweight of all time vs. the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. He wants that fight, it’s a big legacy fight for both guys.”
With White teasing the UFC’s potential return to Aspinall’s hometown of Manchester in 2024, he doubled down on the possibility of Aspinall defending his interim title.
“While Jon Jones is injured, if he wants to defend the title, we’d absolutely do it,” White said.