If Jon Jones successfully defends his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 and wants to continue fighting in the UFC, then his next matchup will be against interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

UFC President Dana White relayed the news Thursday during an appearance on “The Jim Rome Show.”

“He’s not fighting Pereira,” White said (with ESPN Andreas Hale). “(Pereira) was a middleweight who moved up to light heavyweight. He’s also a kickboxer who was very, very successful in MMA. His wrestling is not even close to the level of Jon Jones, and Jon Jones is much bigger than him.

That won’t sit well with Jones, who has consistently called for a superfight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

“If the bosses don’t want the Alex Pereira fight to happen, then I’m going to move on with my life,” Jones said. told reporters during a media day Wednesday. “You can either lose me or have another great fight…and it’s with Alex Pereira.”

But first, Jones will face Miocic on Saturday in the main event of UFC 309, which takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Pereira, of course, is a sensational fighter in his own right, ranked No. 2 on the current UFC men’s pound-for-pound list. A matchup between him and Jones could draw a ton of attention, and it certainly piques the current heavyweight champion’s interest, to the point where he claims he would give up his belt to make it happen.

“It would be cool to fight for the heavyweight championship, but I would happily give up the heavyweight championship too,” Jones said. told Sportsnet last Monday. “I left the light heavyweight championship. I would love to walk away from this one as well at the top, on (my) own terms, with my head on my shoulders, making a lot of money. I love the position that I’m in right now. Fighting Pereira for the “BMF” belt, that would be cool. We both have two belts in two weight classes and the night we fight, we fight all of them. two for our third belt, which would be the “BMF”. Would that be cool?”

On top of that, Jones made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with Aspinall. He made his opinion about it clear at a recent press conference.

White had his own comments on Jones’ recent remarks and actions, but he made it clear that the Aspinall fight would be next if the heavyweight wins on Saturday and sticks around.

“It’s classic Jon Jones right here,” White said. “Jon will do what he does on Saturday; if he wins, he will disappear for a while, then that competitive spirit will start bubbling up again. Then money will talk. If he doesn’t decide to retire, he will. will absolutely, positively fight Tom Aspinall.”

However, White also made it clear that he didn’t think Jones was trying to avoid Aspinall either.

“For anyone to say he’s avoiding anyone, Jon Jones is 37, 38 years old. He’s fought everyone. He’s fought the best in the world in their prime and has been since he was 23. He doesn’t. “I don’t dodge anyone,” White added.

Ultimately, it would all be for naught if Jones loses on Saturday, even though he is a huge -625 favorite to win, according to DraftKings Sports Betting. That gives him an implied 86.21 percent chance of winning, according to Action Network.