Pressure Mounts On Jon Jones as Dana White Faces Michael Bisping’s ‘Deadline’ For Tom Aspinall Fight

The clock is ticking for Jon Jones to accept his fight with Tom Aspinall and, naturally, fans are frustrated with the delay. Aspinall, the reigning interim champion, has made it clear—he wants Jones or nothing. However, with ‘Bones’ remaining silent and the division stalled, the UFC CEO Dana White has a tough task up in hand. Former UFC champion Michael Bisping feels it’s time the UFC comes up with a deadline for him. ‘The Count’ also believes that the champion should be ‘stripped’ of the title if he denies fighting Aspinall again.

For a long time, Jones showed interest in fighting Alex Pereira and felt the fight would help him build his legacy. However, with the Brazilian losing his title to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 that fight now seems a distant dream. The new light heavyweight champion wasted no time in reminding Jones about his next fight and wrote on X, “Johnny’s steroid machine was very disappointed. I beat Alex, please fight big Tom Aspinall, stop running.” Well, it seems the heavyweight champion has no option but to fight Aspinall next. But what should the UFC do if he doesn’t agree to fight the interim champion? Michael Bisping feels the UFC should strip him of his title and move on in the division.

‘The Count’ took to his podcast on his YouTube channel with Paul Felder by his side to discuss the whole scenario. Bisping feels that the 37-year-old is holding up the division and not giving the interim champion a chance to fight for the title. He feels the UFC should make some firm decisions and said, “So at some point they might have to say look listen Jon we’re gonna give you a deadline. You’ve got until the end of April. And if you will not accept this fight. Then what do you want us to do? We’re going to have to move on without you. Which would mean removing the belt from you.” 

‘Honey Badger’ is constantly trying his best to get the attention of the champion with his tweets and messages. He recently reminded ‘Bones’ about the next challenge waiting for him and commented, “You got nowhere to run Jon.” 

All this drama unfolded during an Instagram video shared by Alex Pereira after his loss at UFC 313. Jones took to the comment section and shared his disappointment by commenting, “Disappointed, I was looking forward to sharing the octagon with you.” But it seems the 31-year-old is slowly losing his patience and is desperate to get inside the Octagon.

Tom Aspinall is waiting for a date to get into a fight with Jon Jones

Dana White is under a lot of pressure and needs to make a decision that could shape the future of the Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall rivalry. Since claiming the interim title the British powerhouse has only one thing in mind, a fight with Jon Jones. He successfully defended his title against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 and took the opportunity to call out ‘Bones’ during the post-fight interview. But with the reigning champion staying silent on the challenge, Aspinall has now stepped forward with a troubling update.

While speaking to ‘Jamal Niaz,’ ‘Honey Badger’ emphasized that his patience is slowly reaching its limit and he is bored with the discussions now. Aspinall said, “I’ve had enough talking about it, mate. I’m honestly bored of it. We’ll see what happens. Yeah, we’ll just see. I’m ready to fight whenever they tell me, so just let me know. I’ll be there.” 

The heavyweight division is one of the most exciting divisions in the UFC and has been held captive by the champion for two years now. He has defended his title only once that too against out-of-form Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. It’s now time for ‘Bones’ to test himself against a much younger opponent who is hungry to take away the belt from him. Should Jon Jones face Tom Aspinall next? Or should he vacate the title? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.