Let us tell you a mind-boggling fact. Jon Jones has reigned as the ‘undisputed’ heavyweight champion for 801 days. Whereas Tom Aspinall has held the interim counterpart for 549 days since winning it at UFC 295. That is almost 68.5% of Jones’ reign during which there has been an interim title holder. And with no official date set for the unification bout, this timeline is bound to get crazier!

“It’s going to be the biggest heavyweight fight ever. And it’ll probably be the biggest fight we’ve ever done.” Dana White has been adamant and has kept the UFC fans on the edge of their seats. Unfortunately, the fight hasn’t really materialized yet. According to the UFC head honcho, “The fight is going to happen. It’s just a matter of when now, getting it signed and done.” But the fighting community can only have so much of the suspense. After all, we hoped to get the unification bout at UFC 317, only to have it replaced by Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira. 

Being the interim heavyweight champion, it’s only natural for Aspinall to compete against the heavyweight champion. However, he was forced to defend his interim belt against Curtis Blaydes. To make things worse, talks of Jones asking for a 180-day break pushed Aspinall towards a second interim title defense against Ciryl Gane. Of course, this hasn’t been officially announced. But the fans and the British fighter are getting impatient now. 

Moreover, the Englishman has already broken the record as the longest reigning interim champion in UFC history, with over 550+ days with the ‘fake’ belt, while the undisputed champion is sitting on the sidelines with no real updates. Weighing in on the delay and uncertainty, Aspinall quoted, “When you put him in there with, and I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet, but I’m literally the most dangerous guy in the UFC if you look at the stats. I think Jon’s a smart guy and realizes that. So, he wants to be compensated financially for it. I’m well bored of [the Jones conversation]. I’ve had enough. We either need to fight, or I need to move on to something else.”

But ‘Bones’ didn’t even flinch. As the calls mounted against him and called him a ‘duck’ for avoiding a fight against Aspinall, ‘Bones’ released a statement. Well, not really! He went live on Instagram and said, “I’ve got people in the chat calling me a ‘duck’. Meanwhile, I’m living my absolute best life. I don’t know if it’s considered ducking when you’re living good. I don’t think it works like that.”

Now, it was White’s turn to go live on Instagram and cater to the fans asking about Jones vs. Aspinall. And yet again, he said the exact same thing. The UFC head honcho assured, “I told you guys already. We’ll get Aspinall vs. Jones done. Jon Jones versus [coughs]… The heavyweight fight will happen. Relax. I’ll announce that soon.”

Verdict MMA happened to capture the visuals of the IG Live and share it on their Instagram profile. The caption to the post read, “Are you buying it? Will we see a Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall announcement anytime soon?” Needless to say, the fighting community had the same question. Let’s see what the fans had to say in the comments section. 

Fans have just one opinion about Dana White hyping up Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall superfight

Most of the fans didn’t buy White’s promise at all. One of the fans pointed out the UFC CEO’s claims. Yes, it’s regarding Aspinall vs. Jones being the biggest fight for the UFC. But the shadow of doubt had already engulfed all hope. The comment read, “Dana knows it might potentially be the biggest UFC promotion ever. If everyone agrees, why no dates, etc?”

One more fan weighed in on the uncertainty and wrote, “I’ll believe it when the cage door is locked behind both of them.” You see, the heavyweight champions have already faced off against each other (unofficially during a face-off in 2024, of course). But there has been no announcement about their fight. 

Meanwhile, one of the fans claimed that White knew that the fight wouldn’t happen. He wrote, “You can see the pain in his eyes knowing Jon won’t fight Tom.” Another fan reflected on the fact that the talks about the matchup have been going on for so long. The comment read, “We been hearing this since Jones won. 🤡” Meanwhile, one more fan added, “Will happen in 2045 😂.”

And as time goes by and uncertainty grows louder, fans seem to be losing their respect for Jones. One of the fans wrote, “Tom’s career and the heavyweight division are being held hostage by Jones, it’s a joke at this point to Jones & I reckon he retires after screwing around for so long.” One more fan revealed, “I used to be the biggest Jones fan, now I can’t even stand to hear him talk his nonsense.”

What are your thoughts on the matchup between Jones and Aspinall? Do you think it’ll ever materialize? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.