Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic has been one of the most officially unofficial Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title fights in promotional history.
Despite the match up being questionable from the jump with Miocic having not won a fight in four years to the day and lost his last time out via a second round knockout in 2021, it fell apart late last year and will be rebooked. A Jones injury canceled the undisputed Heavyweight title clash for UFC 295 and led to an interim champion in Tom Aspinall, who has already successfully defended that strap.
Fans have moved well past the idea of Jones vs. Miocic, as evidenced by our MMA Mania poll results below, and UFC CEO, Dana White, knows it. However, that doesn’t mean he’s changing his mind.
“When you say Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall, does that mean we’re saying Stipe doesn’t deserve that fight?” White asked when speaking to Yahoo! Sports. “I mean, this fight was supposed to happen, Jon’s got injured and Stipe has paid his dues and has been here forever.
“My job is to make the biggest fights I can possibly make,” he continued. “I know everybody wants to see Aspinall but those two are gonna fight and whoever wins, hopefully, Aspinall is next and they’re gonna give Aspinall the opportunities they got when they were in their young careers to get to where they are today.”
Aspinall, 31, has essentially fought through his entire UFC career thus far since Miocic’s last win, going 8-1 (15-3). He earned redemption for his lone loss in the Octagon in the aforementioned title defense when he finished Curtis Blaydes with strikes in one minute (watch highlights) at UFC 304 last month (July 27, 2024).
Ultimately, the future remains uncertain for Aspinall even though he’s the interim titleholder.
“Yes, a lot of decisions made are not necessarily the most popular sometimes,” White said.