Dana White remains adamant about holding a UFC superfight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic.
The mixed martial arts legends were scheduled to face off for the heavyweight title at UFC 295 last November, but Jones sustained an injury that has kept him out of action since.
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Meanwhile, a new champion had been crowned: Tom Aspinall had stormed in and brutally knocked out American Sergey Pavlovic to win the interim title.
Many vocal fans believe the British heavyweight boxer should soon get the chance to unify the belts against Jones, but neither he nor Whyte want the match to take place.
The UFC CEO has been pushing for a Jones vs. Miocic bout, with rumors circulating that the two will finally meet at UFC 309 on November 9 in New York.
Miocic is a mixed martial arts legend but has not fought since a brutal knockout loss to Francis Ngannou in March 2021, putting his eligibility for the title in serious question.
On top of that, a startling statistic emerged after UFC 303 on Saturday night.
Following former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski's loss to Martin Budai, White announced that the 45-year-old is retiring from competing in the sport's top division.
This put an end to his 24-year run with UFC. “I never wanted my journey with UFC to end like this, but it has to happen,” he posted on social media. And yes, I'm not complaining, just wondering why it happened. So, my chapter with UFC is over, but my book is not. I don't know what's going to happen next, but there's still a lot of story to tell. I'm taking some time off with my beautiful family now.”
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Miocic earned his title shot eight years ago when he stopped “The Pit Bull” in 54 seconds. Arlovski hasn't finished a fight in more than nine years, with each of his last 10 wins coming by decision and 12 of his 24 losses coming by knockout.
Now that UFC has released Arlovski, the former two-time champion has surprisingly not shared the Octagon with anyone from the UFC.
All of the fighters on Miocic's 20-4 mixed martial arts record have either retired or been moved on from the UFC during his extended absence.
Some fans were shocked by the statistic, with others campaigning against Miocic making his return against the UFC heavyweight champion.
“Amazing,” one person tweeted.
Another said: “LOL that's really funny.”
A third person wrote: “But somehow it makes sense for Jones to fight him and hype him up as the GOAT.”
Someone else commented: “Jon Jones would rather fight him than Aspinall. Amazing.”
