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Dana White Gives Profane Denial of Jon Jones's Requested Opponent
Jon Jones extended his UFC unbeaten streak to 20 matches on Saturday night with a third-round TKO on a spinning kick that landed and dug hard into Stipe Miocic. It was his second win in the heavyweight division to defend his title.
After the fight, Jones said that he would be open to another fight in lieu of a retirement. But instead of the heavily speculated heavyweight Tom Aspinall as his next opponent, Jones said he would prefer to fight an established champion in Alex Pereira, who currently fights down a weight class.
UFC CEO Dana White was emphatic that he was not interested in that matchup.
"There's no f---ing way I make the Pereira fight. Jon's too big, great wrestler... I like Alex Pereira, I like him personally. It just doesn't make sense to make that fight... Look at his age and what he's doing right now. What's the reason to go up and fight a guy that's so much bigger than you and such a good wrestler?"
White did hedge his claim, saying that if both fighters are really interested, he would consider.
"If they both want it bad enough, and they're both f---ing hounding me or something, maybe I would do it."
If White wants to keep Jones in the UFC for at least one more fight before retirement, he may have to concede to his wishes.
Pereira would need to go up a weight class, currently the champion of the light heavyweight division which Jones occupied for some time. He has already gone up from middleweight to light heavyweight, a transition he made last year.
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Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.