UFC CEO Dana White is confident the biggest fight of 2025 will get done.
White peeled the curtain back Saturday night into the ongoing negotiations to book an unification match between UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones and interim champ Tom Aspinall. White reiterated his belief that Jones vs. Aspinall is “the biggest fight in heavyweight history” and, when asked point blank whether he can guarantee it’ll come together in 2025, issued a “100%” promise that it would.
“It’s massive fight in the history of the company,” White said at UFC Tampa’s post-fight press conference.
White further noted that while Jones continues to rebuff Aspinall at every turn in his public comments, the heavyweight champ’s sentiments are very different behind closed doors.
“Let me tell you what’s weird about that,” White said. “So usually those guys say that sh*t [about not wanting the fight] behind the scenes and not publicly. Jon says that sh*t publicly but not behind the scenes. Jon is a very unique individual to deal with. From day one, I’ve been confident that Jon Jones would do that fight, right? Even before the fight, I said if he won, there’s no way Jon doesn’t do this fight.
“Jon Jones isn’t afraid to fight anybody and that’s a fact. The only time that anything remotely weird has ever happened with Jon Jones was the time that his f*cking camp did the weird Chael Sonnen thing [at UFC 151], ‘We can’t fight Chael Sonnen on short notice.’ And that wasn’t him, it was his team — and he listened to his team, for whatever reason, but that’s like the goofiest f*cking move in the history of the UFC. But other than that, Jon Jones behind the scenes is not a guy that turns down fights.”
The ascent of Aspinall has followed Jones’ reign like a dark cloud in 2024, growing even more burdensome after Aspinall’s 60-second knockout of Curtis Blaydes in August to defend the interim belt. The 31-year-old Englishman has run roughshod over the UFC heavyweight division since signing with the UFC in 2020, racking up an 8-1 record with all eight victories ending in first- or second-round stoppages. Aspinall avenged his lone loss — a 15-second injury defeat to Blaydes — in his interim title defense.
Aspinall then served as the backup fighter for Jones’ heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic in November at UFC 309, which saw Jones dominate the 41-year-old former two-time champion.
Jones spent much of UFC 309 fight week downplaying the chances he ever faces Aspinall and instead calling out UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. However, Jones left the door to an Aspinall fight slightly ajar in his post-fight press conference, bluntly calling on the UFC to pay him “f*ck you money” to accept the title unification bout.
Aspinall’s coach and father, Andy Aspinall, recently told Uncrowned that UFC executives White and Hunter Campbell are trying “everything in their power” to make the bout happen. He predicted the bout ultimately takes place in 2025 in Las Vegas and promised that his son will be up for the task.
“Tom will be different to all these people [Jones has] fought before, and I think it will bother [Jones] because he’s not seen any film on Tom,” Andy Aspinall said. “A lot of people still don’t know what Tom is really good at. He’s good in lots of different areas as well as just moving in and out, catching people and finishing them. He’s really good at that, and that may very [well] work on Jones.”
“[Jones has] two arms, two legs and a head, like every other person [Aspinall] spars, and I don’t think it will bother Tom in the slightest who is stood in front of him when they do eventually fight,” he added.
