Dana White denies ‘disrespecting’ Stipe Miocic by canceling title fight with Jon Jones: ‘It’s not his fault’
UFC CEO Dana White is adamant about booking the UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight amid growing calls for interim champion Aspinall to challenge Jones.
Jones vs. Miocic is rumored to be a November 16 bout at UFC 309, a full year after their original pay-per-view main event was postponed. Aspinall helped save the card by defeating Sergey Pavlovich in a short-notice interim title fight. Nine months and a rare interim title defense later, Aspinall has no date for a title unifier with Jones.
The debate over who should fight Jones was revived during the “Contender Series” post-fight on Tuesday. White said he would not disrespect Miocic by canceling a fight with Jones, who many consider to be the greatest UFC heavyweight fighter of all time.
“Jon Jones got hurt, it’s not his fault,” White said. “He has to wait and go back to training camp. He’s been training. So do I take that away from Stipe and tell him to go and sit on the sidelines for two years?
“If I did that, you guys would say, ‘Oh, you disrespected the greatest heavyweight of all time!’ And that’s the kind of crap fans would say. So I should disrespect Stipe because John got hurt and he won’t fight the fight he was supposed to fight in the first place?”
White claimed Miocic’s impending retirement plays a big role in his commitment to booking this bout. White said he wouldn’t feel good if the 42-year-old Miocic didn’t get a legacy-defining fight to end his career.
“I guarantee you if Stipe wins, Stipe will retire,” White said. “This will be Stipe’s last fight. So are you, the media, telling me I should just tell Stipe to shut up? ‘Stipe, good luck to you, walk off into the sunset, go put out some fires and you’re done because John’s hurt.’ Or do I show this guy the respect I should show him and give both of them the fight they want? That’s the position I’m in.”
“If Stipe was 32, then yes, [an interim title fight] That’s probably what we do. But this is probably Stipe’s last fight, whether he wins or loses, and I’m not going to disrespect the guy. He accepted the fight, he was ready to fight, and John got injured.”
Many have declared the 31-year-old Aspinall the future of the heavyweight division. The interim champion has not been defeated easily in nine UFC appearances. The exception is a knee injury suffered in his fight with Curtis Blaydes in July 2022, which he avenged by knocking out Blaydes in one minute at UFC 304. Aspinall has stopped all eight UFC opponents, seven of them in Round 1. Aspinall praised Aspinall’s talent and expressed hope that Jones vs. Aspinall would be a success. Despite Aspinall’s doubts,
“Aspinall is a young, powerful guy,” White said. “He has a lot of time. These guys are going to fight in November and if he wins he will fight Jon Jones, I can almost guarantee you that. And if Stipe wins, then we’ll find out what’s next for Aspinall.”
