White 'very confident' Jones-Aspinall happens this summer

UFC CEO Dana White is still optimistic that a heavyweight title unification bout between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall will come together this summer.

"Jon Jones definitely wants to fight," White said Saturday at the UFC 313 postfight press conference. "Just when and where are what we're working on now. I'm very confident that that fight happens."

Jones-Aspinall is one of the biggest matchups available in MMA right now, but whether or not it'll materialize has been uncertain for several months. Jones defended the heavyweight title with a third-round TKO of Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November. After the victory, he said it would take "f--k you money" for him to agree to a bout against Aspinall.

Aspinall, the interim champion, gave an update on the situation earlier in March, saying in a video on his YouTube channel that he believed Jones was holding up the fight.

Malki Kawa, one of Jones' managers, suggested on "The Ariel Helwani Show" last week that the bout will come to fruition if the UFC meets Jones' financial demands.

"I think that (Jones-Aspinall happening) depends on certain things, and whether or not everybody wants to make those certain things happen," Kawa said. "And if the answer to everybody else is yes, and those certain things happen, then yes, the fight will happen. That's all I'll say to that."

Aspinall captured the interim heavyweight title in November 2023 and has defended it once, knocking out Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 last July.