Dana White: UFC Prepared to 'Move on Quickly' from Jon Jones-Tom Aspinall Fight

🚨 Dana White on Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall:

“If we can’t get this fight done, we’ll move on quickly… we’ll have answers in the next couple weeks.”

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Dana White seems to be backtracking on a previous guarantee.

This past December, the UFC CEO claimed he was "100 percent” certain that Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall would happen at some point in 2025. In recent months, White has continued to express confidence in the promotion’s ability to make the heavyweight championship unification bout a reality.

On Tuesday, there was a noticeable shift in that bravado.

“I don’t know, we’ll see how this thing plays out over the next couple weeks,” White said on The Jim Rome Show. “If we can’t get this fight done, we’ll move on quickly. I said a couple of weeks. We’ll have answers in the next couple weeks.”

Perhaps White’s position has changed due to recent statements from Jones, who has been quite active on social media. As has been the case since the the fight became a hot topic, “Bones” has expressed little interest in squaring off against Aspinall, the current interim champion. Aspinall, meanwhile, has grown increasingly frustrated with the stagnation of the heavyweight division: The Brit hasn’t fought since defending the interim heavyweight crown against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 last July.

While White doesn’t have any concrete answers regarding Jones vs. Aspinall, he continues to maintain his stance that “Bones” doesn’t have any fear of his would-be opponent.

“Listen, Jon Jones has been an interesting human being to deal with since the day he got here,” White said. “But I will say this about him, you would never hear me out talking about he’s the GOAT and he’s this and he’s that if Jon Jones didn’t want to fight people. Jon Jones has never ever said ‘I’m afraid to fight this guy’ or ‘I don’t like this fight for me’ or any of that stuff.

“One time, his coach at the time back in the day, I don’t know if he’s still with him or whatever — I think it’s the only fight we ever canceled, had to cancel a show because of [this] — but he wouldn’t fight Chael Sonnen because his coach thought it was a bad idea to take that fight on late notice. But it had nothing to do with Jon Jones. Jon Jones has never turned down an opponent here or been afraid to fight anybody.”

The event in question was UFC 151, when Jones turned down a short notice booking against Sonnen after Dan Henderson withdrew from the card. As a result, the entire event was scrapped, and White referred to acclaimed coach Greg Jackson as a “sport killer” as a result.