The UFC 304 pre-fight press conference on Thursday was relatively uneventful, save for some cliché trash talk between headliners Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad.
UFC president Dana White did pass along one piece of news, though, confirming that the winner of the co-main event between interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall and challenger Curtis Blaydes will “absolutely” fight the winner of an expected bout between current heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former two-time champion Stipe Miocic.
White and the UFC have not yet confirmed a date for Jones vs. Miocic, although one speculation is it could be sometime in November when the organization typically holds an annual event at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The UFC’s heavyweight division had been muddled for roughly a year-and-a-half at this point.
Miocic’s second reign as heavyweight champ ended in March of 2021 when he was knocked out by Francis Ngannou at UFC 260. Ngannou defended the title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 the following January, but 12 months later was stripped of the belt in early 2023 when he and the UFC could not come to terms on a new contract.
Ngannou later left the UFC to sign with the PFL as well as take lucrative boxing matches against world champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Meanwhile, Jones, the longtime champion at 205 pounds, had been planning a move up to heavyweight and made his debut in a new weight class when the UFC had Jones and Gane fight for the vacant title at UFC 285 in February of 2023. Jones submitted Gane easily and early in the opening round to win his second UFC title.
Jones and Miocic were then tentatively expected to headline UFC 295 this past November before Jones sustained a significant pectoral injury that sidelined him.
The UFC decided to introduce an interim title and booked Aspinall against Sergei Pavlovich, who at the time had won six consecutive fights by first-round knockout. Aspinall got his hand raised at UFC 295 after knocking out Pavlovich in just 69 seconds.
Blaydes and Aspinall previously fought two years ago in a match that ended after only 15 seconds when Aspinall suffered a fluke knee injury. Aspinall is roughly a four-to-one betting favourite heading into Saturday’s rematch.
One potential complication to White’s plans of a unification bout, once the dust settles after UFC 304, would be if the winner of Jones vs. Miocic decided to retire from the sport as champion following their victory.
Jones turned 37 earlier this month. Miocic turns 42 in August and has not fought since being stopped by Ngannou more than three years ago. Jones has expressed zero interest in facing Aspinall, while Miocic has spent more time working as a firefighter in recent years than he has spent training.