Dana White plans to announce Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall soon: “The heavyweight fight will happen”

UFC CEO Dana White has plenty of confidence that Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall will happen.

White announced the UFC 317 and UFC 319 main events, and neither is Jones defending his heavyweight title. Many fans were hoping Jones vs Aspinall would headline the International Fight Week on June 29 in Las Vegas, but that won’t happen as White announced the main event would be Ilia Topuria vs Charles Oliveira.

After White made the announcement, he was then asked about Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall, and he gave fans a promising update.

“I told you guys already, we’ll get Aspinall vs Jones done. The heavyweight fight will happen. Just relax, I’ll announce that soon,” White said on his Instagram Live.

With Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall fight not happening at International Fight Week, the next logical date will be the Madison Square Garden card in New York in November. Jones fought at MSG last year, and the UFC likes to put big fights atop that card. But, as of right now, no date has been made official.

Jon Jones responds to claims he’s ducking Tom Aspinall

Before Dana White even announced the UFC 317 main and co-main events, Jon Jones was on his Instagram Live responding to claims he was ducking Tom Aspinall.

Jones was in Thailand and claimed he isn’t ducking anyone. Instead, he says he’s just living his best life.

“I’ve got people in the chat calling me a ‘duck,’” Jones said. “Meanwhile, I’m living my absolute best life. I don’t know if it’s considered ducking when you’re living good. I don’t think it works like that.”

Aspinall, meanwhile, has grown frustrated with sitting on the sidelines, as he has already defended the interim title once. However, his wait could soon be over as White is confident the fight will happen and he will be able to announce it soon.

Jon Jones (28-1) is coming off a TKO win over Stipe Miocic to defend his heavyweight title for the first time. Before that, Jones submitted Ciryl Gane to win the vacant heavyweight belt.

Tom Aspinall (15-3) is coming off a knockout win over Curtis Blaydes to defend his interim belt. He won the interim belt by knocking out Sergei Pavlovich.