As speculation surrounding the return of both ‘Bones’ and ‘Notorious’ continues, there’s hope that UFC fans could see the two superstars on back-to-back PPVs before the end of the year.
UFC President Dana White might not have been in the mood for another deep-dive discussion into when either Jon Jones or Conor McGregor will be making their returns, but there have been some notable updates in the past few days that will certainly pique fan attention.
Dana White hopeful that Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic happens in November
Following Tom Aspinall’s outstanding first-round knockout of Curtis Blaydes last weekend in Manchester, it appeared that the MMA world came together to collectively beg Dana White to shelve Stipe Miocic in favor of making the undisputed title fight next.
Frustratingly, the UFC CEO seems dead set on making the fight between Jones and Miocic for later this year; with the British interim champion’s win having secured his spot as only the backup fighter.
“Yeah, obviously Jon Jones had a serious injury that he had to have surgery [for],” White recently told TNT Sports, teasing that the UFC is tentatively moving ahead with their plan to have said title fight take place on the second-to-last PPV of the year.
“He’s recovering [and] it’s no secret about it, I’m planning on him fighting [against Stipe] in November.”
Whilst that November card has yet to be officially announced by the promotion, the consensus opinion is that the event, UFC 309, will be eventually scheduled for November 9 at Madison Square Garden.
It should be noted that the interview with TNT Sports was filmed prior to Aspinall’s 60-second KO win at UFC 304; luckily, White confirmed at the post-fight press conference that the English juggernaut will be in attendance as the backup fighter, should either Jones or Stipe fail to make the walk.
“100% – We’d be insane not to make him the backup for that fight… Listen, Jon Jones is no dummy. Jon Jones has a very high fight IQ, so he knows what Aspinall has got and what he’s about.”
Dana White offers update on Conor McGregor’s return fight vs Chandler
It’s also been a rather interesting week on the Conor McGregor return fight-front; with Dana White’s comments to TNT Sports being juxtaposed to what we’ve seen on social media from both McGregor and Michael Chandler.
First of all, Dana White noted that at the time of the interview being conducted, he still had no inclination as to when Conor McGregor would actually want to make his UFC return.
“And Conor, I don’t know when he’s coming back,” he stated, adding, “When Conor is ready to go, he’ll let me know so I’m not even talking about Conor right now.”
Well, according to Michael Chandler, that bout’s next target window is UFC 310 in December as ‘Iron’ took to X to post an image of him and McGregor, a banner for UFC 310 and the caption: “December to remember?”
Again, this event has not yet been officially confirmed but is expected to take place on December 14 in Las Vegas – where seven of McGregor’s last nine fights have taken place.
Only a few hours later, ‘Notorious’ himself would also take to social media to share some new sparring footage, with the Irish superstar looking particularly slick as he cracked his training partner with a sweet backstep left.
So, there we have it; it seems like the current plan is for Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic to headline UFC 309 in November, followed by Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler at UFC 310 in December.