'We'll get it done' - Dana White provides major Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall UFC update
UFC chief Dana White has said he is "very confident" a heavyweight title fight between Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones will take place this year.
Greater Manchester's Aspinall, 31, has wanted to fight heavyweight champion Jones since he defeated Sergei Pavlovich to win the interim belt in November 2023.
But after Jones returned from an 18-month injury lay-off to fight Stipe Miocic in November, the American insisted he would only fight the Brit if he was paid "f***k you money".
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However, White is confident that a fight between the pair, which he previously said would be the "biggest" in UFC heavyweight history, will occur in 2025.
Asked for an update on the potential bout on Wednesday, White told Jim Rome: "We're in the works, we're talking on it. I've said that I'm very confident the fight will happen this year.
"Nothing is holding it up. It's just a matter of getting it done. It's not as easy to put these types of fights together as people think, they take time. We'll get it done."
Aspinall has not fought since July, when he beat American Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304, though he was the backup fighter for the bout between Jones and Miocic at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden.
Earlier this week, though, Aspinall confirmed that he had started training for a fight with Jones and expected to be given a date by the UFC in the coming weeks.
"Yeah, I'm just training now," said Aspinall. "I'm just training and getting everything focused to be as fit and ready as I possibly can.
"Who knows? They might spring the [Jon Jones fight] date on me [quickly]. Or they might say the dates going to be in six months, I don't know.
"That's always what kind of happens between fights anyway. You never really know when your next one is. So, I'm just preparing now."
He added: "There's no date set [but] there's an opponent there. So, we're just getting fit really.
"Getting fit, getting back into it, getting the body ready, getting the mind all in sync towards the next opponent and towards the next date, and waiting to find out when that is.
"I should imagine I'm going to find out in the next couple of weeks."
