UFC CEO Dana White isn’t backing down on waiting for Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic.
Jones and Miocic were originally supposed to face off for the heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 295 in November 2023. But shortly before the event, Jones suffered a torn pectoral muscle that forced him from the card, and instead of having backup fighter Sergei Pavlovich step in against Miocic, the UFC opted to postpone the fight entirely. The two are now looking to finally matchup against each other in November, and while the bout has received an increasing amount of backlash recently, White isn’t having it.
“What do I do?” White said to the media following the latest episode of The Contender Series. “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*cking training camp again. He was training. So do I just yank it away from Stipe and say go f*ck yourself and sit on the sidelines for two more years?
“If I did that, you guys would be like, ‘Oh, you f*cking disrespected the greatest heavyweight ever!’ and so would the f*cking fans. So I should just shit on Stipe because Jon got hurt and not make the fight that he was already supposed to fight?”
The growing criticism to the Jones-Miocic matchup comes both from the rise of interim champion Tom Aspinall and Miocic’s recent history. Though Miocic is considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, the 42-year-old has not competed in over three years, when he was brutally knocked out by Francis Ngannou, and holds no wins over current UFC fighters. In contrast, Aspinall has five wins over currently ranked heavyweights in that time, including his short notice to fight for an interim title when the UFC postponed Jones-Miocic at UFC 295.
But when reporters pushed back on Miocic being given a title shot under those circumstances, White remained adamant that this was the only realistic way to handle this scenario.
“I have two legends of the sport that wanted to fight each other,” White said. “These guys are lined up, one guy gets hurt, and this is the fight that they both want. What do you do? You don’t show the guys the respect? 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*ck 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.”
Of course that’s cold comfort for Aspinall, who has lobbied for a shot at the undisputed title since winning the interim belt. But White says that eventually, he’ll get his turn.
“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.”
Though not yet official, Jones and Miocic are expected to face off in the main event at UFC 309 which takes place on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
