Dana White confirms Tom Aspinall will face UFC icon Jon Jones next if both men win upcoming fights

DANA WHITE has confirmed Tom Aspinall will face Jon Jones next, so long as the pair win their upcoming fights.

Aspinall put himself on a collision course with the former pound-for-pound king last November by claiming the interim heavyweight title.

GETTYTom Aspinall became interim UFC heavyweight champion last November[/caption]

GETYAspinall wants to unify the belts with undisputed champion Jon Jones[/caption]

GettyUFC bigwig Dana White has confirmed the pair will fight one another if they win their upcoming bouts[/caption]

But the Wigan warrior has been forced to defend the belt against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 this weekend due to an injury to the undisputed champion.

Jones, 37, is set to defend his belt against former long-reigning titleholder Stipe Miocic at Madison Square Garden in November.

The consensus ‘GOAT’, however, has hinted that he could walk away from the sport after beating Miocic.

But White insists the winner of this weekend’s fight will face the victor over Jones and Miocic’s rescheduled clash.

Meaning Aspinall’s dream of facing Hall-of-Famer Jones could very well become a reality.

When asked if the plan is for the victors of the bouts to unify the belts, White said: “Absolutely.”

MMA fans, however, weren’t completely sold on White’s committing to a unification bout.

One wrote on X: “That’s cap.”

GettyTom Aspinall defends his interim heavyweight title against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304[/caption]

Another said: “I’d hope so, but it won’t happen.”

And another said: “I don’t believe him, Jones won’t even contemplate the idea of fighting Aspinall.”

One remarked: “We’ll see.”

Another chimed in: “So they won’t fight till April or May.”

Aspinall, 31, hasn’t fought since claiming the interim title with a blistering 63-second KO of Sergey Pavlovich at MSG.

And the dad-of-three hoped his demolition of the Russian would have got Jones’ competitive juices flowing.

He said: “If I hit anybody square in the face, they’re going to go to sleep. It’s as simple as that.

“And Jon knows that. That’s no disrespect to Jon, I absolutely love Jon, he’s one of my favourite fighters of all time, I look up to him.

“But I want to fight him and I think I can win.”

He added: “Just give me the opportunity, Jon. Let me do it. Give me my dream fight, why not?”