Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: UFC, Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall, MMA
Ben McCrum
Jon Jones has agreed to a fight on the UFC White House card just moments after Tom Aspinall's first heavyweight title defence was ruled a no contest.
After 14 months outside of the octagon, newly-crowned UFC heavyweight champion Aspinall returned to make the first defence of his title against number one contender Ciryl Gane.
Shortly after Mackenzie Dern won the vacant women's strawweight title with a unanimous decision win over Virna Jandiroba, the two heavyweights entered the ring for the main event of the evening.
However, things unfortunately didn't go at all to plan, as an accidental double eye poke from Gane left Aspinall in agonising pain and unable to see, forcing the fight to end early and be ruled as a no contest.
Advert
Shortly after the disappointing result, former champion Jones, who has been involved in a heated rivalry with Aspinall in recent months, took to social media to name the one fight that he is ready to come back for next year.
Back in March 2023, Jones won the vacant heavyweight title with a dominant victory over Gane and went on to defend it once before eventually retiring in June, despite calls to fight then-interim champion Aspinall.
But just days after confirming he had retired, the American revealed that he was re-entering the UFC's testing pool ahead of the high-profile fight card set to take place at The White House next summer.
Advert
Ahead of the White House card there has been much speculation regarding who will feature on the card, with many hoping that we may finally get to see Jones and Aspinall face off as the main event.
Instead, Jones has accepted a fight with current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, taking to social media platform X to confirm his intentions of facing the Brazilian on the White House card.
Posting on X, Jones revealed: "Alex, I’d be down to bring the highest skill level to the White House. I appreciate the respect you showed, let’s dance."
Although the timing of Jones' post clearly shows that he is reacting to the result of Aspinall vs Gane, he was actually responding to Pereira calling out the former champion after he reclaimed the light heavyweight belt by knocking out Magomed Ankalaev in October.
Advert
After the first round knockout finish, the ever-popular Pereira took the microphone to reveal that he had planned a speech to call out Jones, but instead wanted to take the time to pay respect to the former champion's brother who had recently passed away.
However, since then Pereira has been outspoken about his desire to face Jones next summer, stating ahead of Saturday's heavyweight title fight that he would rather fight Jones than challenge for the heavyweight belt.
When asked about the possibility of taking on the winner of the heavyweight title fight on UFC's Last Fight show, Pereira replied: "No, I want a superfight. It would be at the White House against Jon Jones. That's a superfight."
Advert
Pereira further teased the possibility of fighting Jones in his own reaction to the heavyweight title fight, as he took to Instagram to share a video of him laughing at the result, with the caption: "Let’s Make the heavyweight Division Great Again!"