The complex situation surrounding the UFC heavyweight title moved a step closer to becoming clearer in the wake of UFC 313 this past weekend.
Jon Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) who has held the heavyweight strap since he submitted Cyril Gane at UFC 285 over two years ago, has been non-commital on the idea of stepping into the Octagon with interim champion Tom Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC).
'Bones' has resisted calls for a unification bout against the Brit, and instead floated the idea of a potential superfight against Alex Pereira, insisting it would do much more for his legacy than a win over Aspinall would.
Pereira's Defeat Narrows His Options
It had been speculated that if Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) were to successfully defend his title for the fourth time when he faced Magomed Ankalaev in the main event at UFC 313 on Saturday night that he might finally make the move up to take on Jones.
However, after 'Poatan' suffered a surprise defeat to Ankalaev, Dana White shed some light on the organization's future plans for all 3 fighters.
White was asked at the post-fight press conference if, given the fact that Pereira had been such a dominant force during his title reign at 205 pounds that he might be granted an immediate rematch against Ankalaev, to which the UFC President replied: "probably".
White was also asked about Aspinall's recent comments suggesting the potential fight against Jones was being delayed by Jones and his team. "Listen, Jon Jones definitely wants the fight", White responded. "Just when and where is what we're working on now".
White was asked how confident he is that the heavyweight title unification bout can be made. "I'm very confident that that fight happens, yeah", he said. He was then asked if it might happen this summer. "Yeah", was his response.
