UFC president and CEO Dana White remains committed to making the heavyweight title unification fight between reigning champion Jon Jones and interim champion Tom Aspinall a reality, but admits that the window for that bout won't stay open forever.
White had stated during the pre-fight press conference ahead of UFC 309 that the winner of the title fight between Jones and Stipe Miocic should face Aspinall next.
More news: UFC Champion Alex Pereira 'Really Wants' Boxing Bout With Oleksandr Usyk
"The winner should absolutely fight Tom," he said at the time, but since defeating Miocic at Madison Square Garden, Jones has appeared less than enthusiastic about the prospect of facing the Englishman, instead turning his attention to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
The bout still hasn't been officially signed and sealed and, speaking to The Mac Life's Oscar Willis in Riyadh ahead of UFC Saudi Arabia, White said that the promotion's plan is still to make that fight happen.
When asked about the Jones-Aspinall situation, White replied, "Yeah, there's no situation. It's the biggest fight we can make.
"I know the fans like to mess with Jon, and whatever. Jon Jones isn't afraid of anybody, and Jon Jones will fight anybody. It's just a matter of getting the fight done now. That's our job."
But, while the UFC's plan is still to get the heavyweight superfight signed, White admitted that there could come a point where the promotion decides to move on to keep the division moving.
More news: UFC News: Daniel Cormier, Chael Sonnen To Coach 'The Ultimate Fighter'
"A hundred percent," he said.
"Listen, if we don't get the fight done, we move on, and we make another fight.
"But, not last night, but the night before, I was up in my room with my people until six in the morning. We're working on lots of stuff right now. There's lots of really good s**t going on right now.
"Every year I say to myself, how do we raise the bar? How do we go to another level? How do we beat this year? And every year, we seem to do it, and every year there's always fun fights that we get excited to make. We're working on a ton of those right now."
More MMA:
Michael 'Venom' Page Says He Still Has Unfinished Business at Welterweight
Conor McGregor Takes Aim at Nurmagomedov Family in Social Media Rant
For more MMA, head to Newsweek Sports.
English (US) ·