Dana White’s Plans to Rebook Jones vs. Miocic Remain Unchanged After UFC 295

Dana White has doubled down on rebooking Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic even after Tom Aspinall won the interim heavyweight title against Sergei Pavlovich on Saturday.

While Jones and Miocic were originally scheduled to headline UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden, “Bones” was forced off the card due to a torn pectoral tendon. An interim title fight between Aspinall and Pavlovich was put together at the last minute, with White claiming that it would have been disrespectful to offer an interim fight to Miocic.

Aspinall went on score a massive first-round KO win over Pavlovich, with Jones praising the newly-crowned interim champ. Many fans and pundits believe Aspinall and Pavlovich should have been fighting for the undisputed title to begin with, as Jones’ recovery is likely to take a while.

However, White has previously stated that he plans on rebooking the Jones vs. Miocic fight, with the winner potentially facing the interim champ. The UFC head honcho’s plans remain unchanged by Aspinall’s UFC 291 victory over Pavlovich.

"No. You do [Jones vs. Miocic]. Those two both deserve that fight, that's the fight they want,” White said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “What I love is that Jon Jones, as soon as he heard he was injured and knew how bad it was, he went right to LA and got the surgery and he’s already in rehab. Physical therapy, I should say. Physical therapy."

If the original UFC 295 main event had proceeded as planned, there was a chance that both Jones and Miocic might have retired after the fight. According to White, nothing is set in stone regarding Miocic’s future plans.

"I had lunch the other day with Stipe... It's one of those fights, you have the best heavyweight of all time versus the greatest martial artist of all time,” White said. “That’s the fight they want. That's the fight that makes sense. That's the fight that should happen. I asked Stipe [if he would retire after fighting Jones], he said, 'I don't even know. All I care about right now is Jon Jones. It's the only thing I'm focused on.'"