Dana White has shifted his stance amid the ongoing drama surrounding the potential Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall bout.

UFC heavyweight champion Jones has so far refused to commit to a title defence against the division’s interim champion Aspinall, who has held a version of the world title since defeating Sergei Pavlovich in New York in November 2023 — with a chorus of dissatisfaction growing between fight fans, Aspinall and apparently White himself.

The UFC boss had previously stated that he was “100% confident” that the Jones-Aspinall fight would take place at some point in 2025. However, in more recent comments White has now outlined that the organisation will hatch separate plans if the much-anticipated fight proves to difficult to formalise.

“I don’t know, we’ll see how this thing plays out over the next couple weeks,” said White on Jim Rome’s show this week, as noted by MMA Fighting. “If we can’t get this fight done, we’ll move on quickly. I said a couple of weeks. We’ll have answers in the next couple weeks.”

White’s stance represents a messaging shift in what he has previously described as being the “biggest” heavyweight fight in UFC history, particularly due to it involving two fighters who are presently under contract with the company. As such, White noted that it has been at times difficult to deal with Jones throughout his extended tenure on the roster — but that isn’t down to anyh perception of him being unwilling to step up to competition.

“Listen, Jon Jones has been an interesting human being to deal with since the day he got here,” he said. “But I will say this about him, you would never hear me out talking about he’s the GOAT and he’s this and he’s that if Jon Jones didn’t want to fight people. 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.

“Jon Jones has never turned down an opponent here or been afraid to fight anybody.”