Dana White Says Jon Jones Agreed to Tom Aspinall Fight, Blasts 'Bulls--t' UFC Rumors

Amid rumors about a fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall, Dana White cleared the air, saying that Jones agreed to fight Aspinall, though no agreement has been signed yet.

White also addressed the rumors and encouraged fans not to believe anything that doesn't come directly from UFC.

"Unless you hear it come from here, or we put out a press release, don't believe this bulls--t," White said. "...Unless we come out and say something, it's all bulls--t."

Ariel Helwani discussed the situation on Monday:

The potential bout between Jones and Aspinall has been in the works for months, but Jones clarified in November that he would need "f--k you money" to get into the ring with Aspinall.

After months of back and forth regarding the fight, White made a definitive statement about it happening.

"The fight is going to happen," White said during an interview on TNT Sports in March. "It's just a matter of when now, getting it signed and done. The fight will happen.

"It's going to happen. It's done but it's not done. Not done enough to sit right here now and announce it and give you a date. But the fight is going to happen. It's just a matter of getting it signed now."

Despite White's confidence about the fight happening, there was even more doubt last month after a cryptic post regarding retirement on Jones' social media. While Jones didn't say he was officially retired, he made no indication about an upcoming fight against Aspinall.

Aspinall addressed those rumors earlier this week, calling himself the "undisputed heavyweight champion" on the Good Guy/Bad Guy podcast.

"Jon Jones is retired," Aspinall said (h/t ESPN's Brett Okamoto). "I want to say God bless him moving forward in what he does with his life and career. We move on. I'm the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. I'm ready to take on all comers and get this division moving again. Those guys have been waiting around too long. The contenders are getting sick of it. Everybody's getting sick of it. Even the fans are getting sick of this stuff. So, Jon's retired and it's time that we move on."

After Aspinall's comments, Jones said he has no issue giving up his heavyweight champion belt.

The fight is clearly up in the air despite Jones' agreement to participate in the bout, but White reiterated that if Jones doesn't want to fight, it's out of their control.

"Listen, you can't make people fight," White said. "If Jon doesn't want to fight, you can't make him fight. We can try to make him fight, we can throw things at him that inspire him to want to fight, but we'll figure it out."