Dana White was always confident he could put together the fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall, but now he’s taken things one step further.
On Saturday night, following the final UFC event of the year in Tampa, the UFC CEO offered an absolute guarantee that Jones vs. Aspinall is going to happen in 2025, and he expects that fight to break records when two champions finally collide.
“Yeah, I’ll say 100 percent [guaranteed],” White said when asked about Jones vs. Aspinall. “100 percent [it’s a priority]. I think it’s probably the biggest fight in heavyweight history, and it’s a massive in the history of the company, too. It’s a big fight.”
That’s a bold proclamation from White, who usually doesn’t offer up that level of confidence unless he’s already got a contract in hand so it speaks volumes about the plans surrounding Jones vs. Aspinall heading into the New Year.
Even before Jones dominated and finished Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November, White expected that the winner of that fight would move onto face Aspinall in a title unification bout. Following Jones’ lopsided victory, he downplayed his interest in fighting Aspinall and instead suggested a showdown against UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
White immediately shot down those plans and he remained steadfast that Jones would eventually come around to accept the Aspinall fight no matter how much he says otherwise.
“It’s weird,” White said about Jones. “Let me tell you what’s weird about that. So usually those guys say that shit behind the scenes and not publicly. Jon says that shit publicly but not behind the scenes. Jon is a very unique individual to deal with.”
Jones’ biggest criticism about the fight boils down to Aspinall’s lack of big fight experience where a win wouldn’t really add much to his resume and overall legacy.
While Aspinall sports an impressive 8-1 record in the UFC, he’s only competed in two interim title fights and that pales in comparison to Jones’ nearly unblemished resume, which includes victories in 16 championship bouts.
That said, Aspinall is widely considered the top heavyweight in the sport, which includes a blistering finishing rate with only one fight making it past the first round out of his eight wins in the UFC.
As much as Jones may protest publicly, White stands by his belief that when push comes to shove, he’ll be able to get a deal done to make the fight against Aspinall before 2025 concludes.
“From day one, I’ve been confident that Jon Jones would do that fight,” White said. “I mean even before the fight, I said if he won, there’s no way Jon doesn’t do this fight. Jon Jones isn’t afraid to fight anybody and that’s a fact. The only time that anything remotely weird has ever happened with Jon Jones is the time that his f*cking camp did the weird Chael Sonnen thing. ‘We can’t fight Chael Sonnen on short notice.’ That wasn’t him. That was his team, and he listened to his team for whatever reason.
“But that’s like the goofiest f*cking move in the history of the UFC. But other than that, Jon Jones behind the scenes is not a guy that turns down fights.”
