UFC President Dana White appears to have given Jon Jones a deadline to make a decision regarding a fight with Tom Aspinall.
UFC executives have been working to finalize a showdown between their heavyweight champion and his interim counterpart since last November.
White and the team have even agreed to break their standard pay structure and offer Jones “F**K YOU MONEY” for the massive unification bout.
Jones, 37, reportedly agreed to the multi-million-pound purse offered but has publicly considered the possibility of retirement.
White remains hopeful of finalizing the fight but insists the UFC will not continue to operate solely on Jones` terms for much longer.
During an appearance on The Jim Rome Show, the 55-year-old stated: “We’ll see how this thing plays out over the next couple of weeks.”
“If we can’t get this fight done, we’ll move on quickly. We’ll have answers in the next couple weeks.”
White maintains that the delay in booking what could be the biggest fight in the history of the UFC`s heavyweight division is not because Jones is scared of the British fighter, Aspinall.
The UFC`s CEO and President added: “Jon Jones has never, ever said, ‘I’m afraid to fight this guy.` Or, ‘I don’t like this fight for me,’ or any of that stuff.” He recalled only one fight cancellation, which was due to a coach`s advice, not Jones` fear.
“But it had nothing to do with Jon Jones.”
“Jon Jones has never turned down an opponent here or been afraid to fight anybody.”
For the past several months, White had expressed confidence that Jones would sign the contract to face Aspinall in a bout that SunSport understands is still targeted for November.
However, it became evident last week that his confidence in booking the fight had decreased when he admitted: “You can’t make people fight.”
“If Jon doesn’t want to fight, you can’t make him fight.”
“We can try to make him fight, we can throw things at him that inspire him to want to fight. But we’ll figure it out.”
Former pound-for-pound king Jones has not stepped inside the octagon since defending his heavyweight strap against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 last November.
Aspinall, meanwhile, has been sidelined since defending his interim strap against Curtis Blaydes in just 60 seconds at UFC 304 last July.
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