Dana White Remains Confident Jones Vs. Aspinall Happens In 2025

Reports that a heavyweight title unification bout between champion Jon Jones and interim titleholder Tom Aspinall is set have been circulating. At the same time, stories that the fight is not happening have been popping up. On Saturday, UFC CEO Dana White spoke about the much-desired Jones vs. Aspinall matchup.

“Everything you hear is (expletive) until we (the UFC) say it,” White said of all the talk about Jones vs. Aspinall. “I’ve said it many times, that’s the fight we want to make this year.”

White then added that he remains “super confident” that Jones and Aspinall will meet in 2025 before adding, “I’ve said since day one, this will be the biggest heavyweight in the history of the company and in the history of the sport. It’s going to be a big one.”

As for the reports that the fight was on and then off? Those both came from former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen on back-to-back days of his podcast.

Jon Jones Wins And Defends UFC Heavyweight Title

Jones (28-1-0-1) claimed the vacant UFC heavyweight title in March 2023, more than three years after he last defended the UFC light heavyweight crown, beating Ciryl Gane by first-round submission.

Jones then defended that belt in November 2024 with a third-round TKO win over former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

Tom Aspinall Wins And Defends The UFC Interim Heavyweight Title

Aspinall (15-3) captured the interim UFC heavyweight title in November 2023 with a first-round knockout over Sergei Pavlovich. He then defended the belt in July 2024 with a first-round knockout of Curtis Blaydes.

In March, Aspinall spoke about the potential Jones fight.

“We had a nice meal, and we talked everything through,” Aspinall told Ariel Helwani,”(UFC CBO) Hunter (Campbell) has always been extremely personable and reasonable with me. I can’t say what he’s like with other people, I don’t know, but with me and my team, he’s been nothing but hospitable and fantastic. We had a fantastic meeting. Everything went amazing, and I understand my position now. I understand what the company’s doing now, and you’ve got to stay tuned, my friend. There’s some big news coming.”

“I feel like we’re in a good spot right now,” Aspinall added. “I realize I’m a professional MMA fighter, UFC fighter, and we’re doing all this media stuff lately, it’s gone really well. The YouTube channel is flying, social media’s flying, everything’s going really, really well with that, which is good. That’s really, really nice, but first and foremost, I like fighting people. That’s what I like to do. If I’m not doing that, I feel a little bit — that’s just what I like to do. I like to do that. That’s the most important for me, and I’ve not been doing that over the last seven months.

“After the meeting, I’m feeling very optimistic about things. I’m in a really, really good spot with everything and my future moving forward. I think it’s exciting times, man. Really exciting times.

“The break [waiting for Jones’ decision], it’s not a massive break, to be honest,” he added. “People are saying, ‘Oh, Jon Jones is holding up your career,’ and stuff. It’s only been seven months. It’s not too bad. I don’t want to say too much, but exciting stuff is in the future, for sure.”

We wil have more on the Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall fight as news becomes available.