Written by LAS VEGAS – There was growing belief among MMA pundits that, if Alex Pereira won at UFC 313, he could steal the Jon Jones fight from Tom Aspinall.
Not anymore.
That’s because Pereira’s reign as UFC light heavyweight champion came to an end after he was dethroned by Magomed Ankalaev in the UFC 313 main event Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Sure, Jones late last year expressed his desire to make what he described as a “legacy” fight with Pereira instead of unifying the heavyweight title against interim champ Aspinall. But after UFC 313, Dana White seemed to indicate that Pereira never was seriously in position to challenge Jones even if he’d successfully come through with his fourth consecutive title defense.
“When you’re trying to ask a guy to move up two weight classes to heavyweight and take on the greatest of all time … there’s still tough guys to fight in the light heavyweight division,” White said of Pereira during the UFC 313 post-event news conference. “I believe in moving up after you clean out divisions. And this division wasn’t cleaned out yet.”
With any remaining talk of Jones vs. Pereira quashed by White, the UFC boss remains intent on booking Jones vs. Aspinall this summer.
Just this week, Aspinall released a video on YouTube in which he blamed Jones for holding up the fight. When asked about it, White wouldn’t elaborate on what Aspinall was talking about but expressed confidence in getting the fight done.
“Listen, Jon Jones definitely wants the fight,” White said. “Just when and where is what we’re working on now. … I’m very confident that fight happens.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 313.