UFC president Dana White responded to a fan on Instagram Live who suggested a heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall will "never happen" in the future.
For months, reigning interim champion Aspinall has called for a unified bout between himself and one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time, Jon Jones.
Aspinall, who defended his interim title against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in July, recently agreed that it would be the "biggest heavyweight fight ever" as talk once again turned to a potential match-up.
"I don’t think [Jones has agreed], but nobody knows what he’s doing," the Manchester-born fighter said on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
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"I would imagine that he would be getting paid [a lot]. I don’t really care about money. I want to make as much money as I can, but what I care about is unifying the belts. It’s not about Jon, it’s about the belt, and that’s all I care about."
Jones, who is the current UFC heavyweight champion, has previously played down facing Aspinall but in a recent Instagram Live, Dana White delivered arguably the biggest update yet.
During the stream, White confirmed that Ilia Topuria is set to move to lightweight, while Belal Muhammad will face Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC 315 main event.
But his comments on Jones vs. Aspinall brought the most reaction. After a fan said the match-up will never happen, White replied: "Yes, you will... it's coming. Relax."
MMA journalist and White’s close friend Kevin Iole also commented on the incident.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Iole said: "He [White] announced this on Instagram Live and somebody said ‘Jones vs. Aspinall is never going to happen.’ And Dana said ‘Absolutely it will happen.’
"That was kind of repeating the stance that he had and he has repeated a number of times. But he said it again tonight. He expects Jones vs. Aspinall to happen sometime later this year."
Iole went on to "guess" that a fight between Jones and Aspinall would headline International Fight Week in Las Vegas in the last week of June. "That is my suspicious right now," he added. "That is how things are working."
Earlier this month, fans expressed their concern after Jones went live on Instagram.
Speaking in the early hours, the current UFC heavyweight champion said: "You get p—ed off, disappointed. And as a Dad, you just want to kill them."
It is unclear what Jones was specifically referring to and what state he was in when the video was broadcast, but former heavyweight rival Daniel Cormier jumped to his defence.
“I don’t like being supportive [of Jon Jones],” Cormier said on Funky and the Champ. “Jon Jones was walking down the street, saying some crazy stuff about his kid…if he was on vacation, haven’t we all been there?
"Maybe not that extreme, but our kids drive us crazy. And you know what the worst part is? When you go back to that hotel room, you’re the bad guy! Everyone’s going to make it like you’re the bad guy for being upset.
“I don’t want to defend him, but come on…haven’t we all been there?”
Topics: Jon Jones, Dana White, UFC, Tom Aspinall
Jack Kenmare