Jones was originally scheduled to defend the undisputed heavyweight title against Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023 before pulling out due to an injury. Tom Aspinall went on to knock out Sergei Pavlovich in a short-notice interim title fight put together to help save the card.
Despite no clear timeline in sight for Jones’ return to the Octagon, “Bones” wasn’t stripped of his title. Meanwhile, Jones remains adamant on facing Stipe Miocic , who hasn’t fought in more than three years, in his return to action. That bout has been rumored for November, but nothing is official at this point in time.
The UFC CEO not only continues to vehemently defend that matchup, but is visibly irked about Jones losing his status as UFC pound-for-pound king due to inactivity. The UFC rankings are decided by the votes of media members, who according to White, are proving their ignorance by not ranking Jones No.1 on the P4P list.
" Jon Jones is ranked No. 3 pound-for-pound in the world... It's the most f—ing ridiculous, embarrassing, stupid, know nothing about f—-ing fighting ranking of all f—ing time,” White recently told Kevin Iole. “ Jon Jones is still an active fighter. He beat Ciryl Gane . He got injured. He was supposed to fight, he’s gonna fight again in November. Jon Jones is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Period. End of story. Whether you want to call Islam [Makhachev or Alex] Pereira No. 2 or No. 3, all good. To have anybody above Jon Jones right now just goes to show that you know absolutely f—-ing nothing about combat sports and fighting."
Aspinall recently defended his interim title against Curtis Blaydes via first-round knockout at UFC 304 in Manchester last month. While White acknowledges Aspinall’s achievements, the UFC CEO doesn’t believe “Honey Badger” has paid his dues as much Jones and Miocic. However, White says the winner of that potential matchup definitely owes Aspinall the opportunity they have been granted.
“There’s not enough credit being given for this: What [Aspinall] did to Curtis Blaydes , the way that he did it and how fast he did it. There’s no doubt this guy is a scary dude, and he looks like the future of the heavyweight division,” White said. “But at the same time, he is working his way up, he’s climbing up the ladder. And everybody’s like, ‘He deserves this, he deserves that.’ He doesn’t deserve anything.
“He looks great, looks like he is gonna be the guy. You got Stipe and Jon, who have paid their dues, they’ve been here forever, they’ve fought everybody, they’ve fought all the fights you could possibly fight. These guys deserve to fight each other. Whoever wins that fight, I think that they owe it to Aspinall to fight him and give him the opportunity that they’ve been given.”
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