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Dana White: UFC 304 Interim Title Fight Winner Will Face Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic

Andrew Peters

The winner of the interim heavyweight title fight will have a tough opponent waiting for them.

Per ESPN's Andreas Hale, UFC president Dana White said the winner of the bout between Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 will face the winner of the upcoming heavyweight title fight between current champion Jon Jones and former champion Stipe Miocic.

Miocic won the UFC Heavyweight Championship in 2019 and defended it against Daniel Cormier in 2020, but lost it after Francis Ngannou defeated him at UFC 260 in 2021, which was also his most recent fight.

Jones has not fought since March of 2023 when he beat Ciryl Gane to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship. He was set to fight Miocic at UFC 295 last November, but he suffered a torn pectoral tendon while training and was forced to withdraw.

Since then, Jones has teased a rescheduled fight against Miocic in November, though UFC has not confirmed whether the bout will take place then.

After the fight does take place, Aspinall or Blaydes will take on the winner.

Aspinall won the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship in November of last year when he beat Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295. His matchup against Blaydes on Saturday will be a rematch of their 2022 bout when Blaydes won in a technical knockout after Aspinall suffered a knee injury just moments into the fight.

Blaydes comes into the fight after beating Jailton Almeida by knockout at UFC 299 in March.

   

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