Dana White Says Jon Jones' Next UFC Fight Will Be vs. Tom ...

If Jon Jones successfully defends his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 and wants to continue fighting in UFC, then his next matchup will be against interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

UFC President Dana White relayed that news Thursday during an appearance on "The Jim Rome Show."

"He's not fighting Pereira," White said (h/t ESPN's Andreas Hale). "[Pereira] was a middleweight that moved up to light heavyweight. He's also a kickboxer who has done very, very well in MMA. His wrestling isn't even near the level of Jon Jones, and Jon Jones is way bigger than him."

That won't sit well with Jones, who has steadfastly called for a superfight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

"If the bosses don't want the Alex Pereira fight to happen, then I'll just move on with my life," Jones told reporters at a media day event on Wednesday. "You can either lose me, or get one more super fight ... and that's with Alex Pereira."

But first, Jones will take on Miocic Saturday at the main event of UFC 309, which will go down in New York's Madison Square Garden.

Pereira, of course, is a sensational fighter in his own right who's ranked No. 2 on UFC's current men's pound-for-pound list. A matchup between him and Jones could attract a ton of people, and it certainly piques the current heavyweight champion's interest, to the point where he claims that he'd give up his belt to make it happen.

"It'd be cool to fight over the heavyweight championship but I would also willingly give up the heavyweight championship," Jones told Sportsnet last Monday. "I walked away from the light heavyweight championship. I'd love to walk away from this one as well on top, on [my] own terms, good head on your shoulders, making lots of money. I love the position that I'm in right now. Fighting Pereira for the 'BMF' belt, that would be cool. We both have two belts in two weight classes and the night we fought we'd both be fighting for our third belt, which would be the 'BMF.' How cool would that be?"

In addition to that, Jones has made it clear he wants nothing to do with Aspinall. He made his opinion on him abundantly clear during a recent press conference.

White had his own comments on Jones' recent remarks and actions, but he made clear that the Aspinall fight would be next if the heavyweight wins Saturday and sticks around.

"That is classic Jon Jones right there," White said. "Jon will do what he does on Saturday; if he wins, he will disappear for a while, and then that competitive spirit will start bubbling up again. Then money will talk. If he doesn't decide to retire, he will absolutely, positively fight Tom Aspinall."

However, White also made clear that he didn't think Jones was trying to avoid Aspinall either.

"For anybody to say that he is ducking anybody, Jon Jones is like 37, 38 years old. He has fought everybody. He has fought the best in the world in their prime and been doing it since he was 23 years old. He doesn't duck anybody," White added.

Ultimately, this would be all for naught if Jones loses Saturday, although he's a massive -625 favorite to win, per DraftKings Sportsbook. That gives him 86.21 percent implied odds for victory, per Action Network.