If anyone is holding out hope to see Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall in the cage together, you had better not hold your breath.

UFC interim heavyweight champion Aspinall has long been campaigning for a title bout with formal champion Jones ever since claiming a version of the championship a year ago in a bout with Sergei Pavlovich which came about on short notice after Jones was unable to make it to the cage for a scheduled title defence against Stipe Miocic.

And with the much-delayed Jones-Miocic fight set to go down next weekend in New York City, many had expected a degree of clarity for Aspinall’s next move — be it him in line to face the winner or to have his interim crown upgraded to the real thing in the event that either or both fighters retire after the fight, as has been rumoured in the press.

But instead, things look to be a bit murkier for Aspinall — who will attend next week’s fight as the official backup.

“More than likely not,” Aspinall told veteran reporter Kevin Iole, as noted by MMA Fighting. “I feel like Tom Aspinall is, I don’t want to say nobody, but he just hasn’t proven anything. He hasn’t done anything. I understand that he won his belt against Sergei. Sergei just got slaughtered by [Alexander] Volkov. I’m not here to gamble someone else making a name off of me.

“I’m here to compete against the guys when we look back 10 years from now like ‘Jon Jones fought this guy and that guy and this legend and this champion and this champion.’”

But should he continue his combat sports career, if not Aspinall then who?

“If there were to be a fight of a guy that’s still on our UFC roster that would be not only financially worth it but legacy worth it, it would be Alex Pereira,” Jones said.

“Alex Pereira and I, we’re both 37 years old. Right now I weigh about 235. I’m an incredibly light heavyweight. I think Pereira walks around at 240. I think that fight would go much farther on my legacy than a young man who’s cool today and maybe gone tomorrow.”