Dana White has plunged head-first into the debate as to whether the winner of Saturday night’s heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic should fight interim champion Tom Aspinall.
The UFC CEO was asked the question by a reporter during the UFC 309 pre-fight press conference with Jones and Aspinall seated on either side of him, and he was emphatic in his reply.
“The winner should absolutely fight Tom,” White replied as fans roared their approval.
Meanwhile, Miocic could be seen nodding at White’s response, while Jones chuckled at the crowd’s reaction and at one point nodded in acknowledgement of their apparent enthusiasm for the much talked about match-up.
While Jones took it all in good spirits though, earlier in the day he’d perhaps given a more accurate assessment of how he feels about the topic when he walked out of a scheduled interview with UK reporter Adam Catterall before it even began due to his belief that the interviewer was too friendly with Aspinall.
“I’m not going to do this interview because it’s going to be an Aspinall-fest. I’m not going to do it,” Jones told his representatives as he headed for the exit.
Jones has repeatedly gone on record shutting down any interest in fighting the interim champion, even suggesting that he may vacate the title if he beats Miocic this weekend in order to take ‘fun’ fights instead against the likes of Alex Pereira, Jamahal Hill and Derrick Lewis.
However, while Jones has insisted that Saturday’s fight with the 42-year-old former champion Miocic is a more meaningful fight for his legacy, the reality is that the bout has been completely overshadowed by everyone talking about the Aspinall match-up instead.
Check out White’s response to the debate in the video below.
