Jon Jones goes to struggle Tom Aspinall, and till he hears in any other case, Dana White guarantees to ship that matchup within the close to future.
That’s the newest from the UFC CEO as he reacted to the latest back-and-forth confrontation between Jones and Aspinall because the extremely anticipated struggle stays extra rumor than actuality for now. Over the previous week, Aspinall went so far as declaring himself undisputed champion whereas wishing Jones effectively in retirement, after which Jones responding by saying he doesn’t actually care if the UFC decides to take the heavyweight title away from him. Jones then expressed curiosity in probably dealing with Francis Ngannou subsequent.
It’s a complete lot of noise, however White says Jones has already accepted the provide to struggle Aspinall, and it’s only a matter of getting the deal executed.
“I’ve been saying it for the reason that starting. Jon Jones agreed to do the struggle,” White stated on the UFC 316 post-fight press convention. “Jon Jones was provided the deal and accepted the deal. Jon agreed to struggle Tom, sure.
“You guys have heard me for the final nonetheless lengthy, I assure this struggle goes to occur. This struggle’s going to occur. You guys advised me the loopy shit that’s happening Instagram, and all these different locations, however sure, I’ve been saying Jon goes to struggle Tom.”
Now White admits he hasn’t seen all of the messages unleashed by Jones over the previous week, which included his curiosity within the Ngannou struggle, however he’s not shedding a lot sleep over the context associated to what occurs on social media.
“Most likely not,” White stated on Ngannou’s possibilities of returning to the UFC.
If Jones has modified his thoughts and he’s critical about not combating Aspinall ,or maybe by no means competing once more, White can solely accomplish that a lot to get the reigning UFC heavyweight champion again within the cage once more.
That stated, White isn’t giving up hope on making Jones vs. Aspinall simply due to the newest trade between the 2 fighters.
“I haven’t been maintaining with the gossip,” White stated. “[Jon Jones is] both again immediately or got here again yesterday or every time, he was in Thailand. He’s residence. We’ll be residence tonight and Tuesday, we’ll determine this out.
“Tom Aspinall’s the man. He’s the man. Pay attention, if [Jones] needs to retire, and doesn’t wish to struggle, nothing you are able to do. I didn’t need Khabib [Nurmagomedov] retire. I assumed [Daniel Cormier] might have stayed it in longer. It’s none of my enterprise. I’ll do what I can to make the struggle if we are able to. If he’s speaking that loopy shit, I didn’t notice that.”
After all, White acknowledged that any time he’s ever labored to place a struggle along with Jones that it takes a little bit further effort however that’s nothing new to him.
“It’s positively the method with Jon Jones,” White stated. “I’ve been going via this for the reason that day he began this. It’s positively the method. Him and Anderson Silva, each time all through the historical past of being in enterprise with these guys when it comes time to get them fights, it’s like coping with artists. It’s fascinating.
“It’s Aspinall’s struggle. We’ve been speaking to this child endlessly about it and it’s his struggle. Pay attention, you’ll be able to’t make folks struggle. If Jon doesn’t wish to struggle, you’ll be able to’t make him struggle. We will attempt to make him struggle. We will throw issues at him that encourage him to wish to struggle however we’ll determine it out.”
White additionally reacted to the net petition that received began concerning the UFC stripping the heavyweight title away from Jones in order that Aspinall might transfer on as undisputed champion.
Jones joked that he hoped the petition reached 200,000 signatures however even that quantity gained’t pressure the UFC’s hand in relation to a choice concerning the title.
“Each human on Earth was DM’ing [the petition] to me,” White stated. “Yeah, I noticed it. What number of followers are there worldwide? There’s like 400 million or one thing like that. 130,000 folks wish to see him stripped. It’s form of f*cking foolish.”
For all of the rumors circulating and the continuous chatter between Jones and Aspinall on-line, White stays assured that he’ll ultimately get a deal executed, which is a minimum of a part of the reasy why he’s not paying a lot consideration to the skin noise.
“Until you hear it come from right here or we put out a press launch, don’t consider any of this bullshit,” White stated. “Until we come out and say one thing, it’s all bullshit. I simply don’t get sucked into that stuff anymore. I don’t even care. I don’t even hearken to it and more often than not, the shit that I hear, I hear from you guys once I come to issues like this.
“In any other case, I don’t care and I don’t take note of any of that stuff. However sure, Jon agreed to struggle Tom, truth.”
