LAS VEGAS – The UFC 309 main event backup fighter doesn’t come as a surprise.
Interim champion [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] will be the first phone call made should the heavyweight title fight between champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] or challenger [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] need a replacement, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed Tuesday.
“Yes, Tom Aspinall is next in line for anything that happens after this fight,” White said after Dana White’s Contender Series 72 at the UFC Apex.
UFC 309 takes place Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Should everything go according to plan and Aspinall not be need, the main event will mark the end of an ongoing logjam at the top of the promotion’s heavyweight division.
For over a year, the promotion has remained dead set on Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) vs. Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) as the next heavyweight title fight. It was initially scheduled for UFC 295 in November 2023, but an injury to Jones pushed the fight back 12 months.
In that fight’s absence, Aspinall defeated Serghei Pavlovich for an interim title. He then defended it against Curtis Blaydes in July. Both fights he ended inside the opening minutes.
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Although Jones has called Miocic his final fight (as recently as Saturday), White has continually voiced his hunch Jones’ fighting career will extend beyond that. White said he hasn’t spoken to Jones about fights beyond the one currently on the books.
“Why speak to him after this (past weekend’s) event?” White said. “You’ve got to figure out what’s going to happen in this fight, see how this fight plays out, and then we’ll go from there.”