Dana White on Jon Jones' future: "He accepted the fight. If he doesn't want to fight..."

This season, there have been a couple of fights that all mixed martial arts (MMA) fans have been dying to see, and which, in one way or another, have become genuine unresolved soap operas, at least for the time being. We're talking about the Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev fight, which the UFC tried to finalize but ultimately fell through when the Dagestani opted to move up to welterweight, having to relinquish his vacant lightweight title, which will now be contested by Topuria himself and Charles Oliveira.

The other most anticipated fight, without a doubt, is the unification of the heavyweight titles. On one side is Jon Jones, considered by many to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time , who sits as the undisputed champion of the heaviest division. On the other side is Tom Aspinall, the interim champion, who has been waiting for his moment to face Jones for many months, but without much success.

Logically, both the Englishman and the American would have to face each other in the Octagon sooner rather than later, but everything has become complicated because Jon Jones didn't want to give the Briton that opportunity. The company's CEO, Dana White, spoke out about this situation last Saturday.

" Jon Jones accepted the fight. They offered him the deal and he accepted it. If he wants to retire and doesn't want to fight, there's nothing he can do. I didn't want Khabib to retire... It's none of my business. You can't force people to fight. If Jon doesn't want to fight, we can't force him," the executive commented at the post-UFC 317 press conference.

From this, we can draw two conclusions: the fight has been scheduled (November at Madison Square Garden in New York would be a perfect date), but Jon Jones himself could end up refusing to fight the interim champion. There are still more than five months until the aforementioned date, on which Jon Jones fought last year, but everything will depend on whether the heavyweight champion wants to make that final defense of his reign or decides to hang up his gloves for good.