Just a little over a day ago we got word that Jon Jones tore his pectoral muscle and he is out of his highly anticipated heavyweight title fight against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295. Subsequently, the UFC paired up the main event and heavyweight title backup and the No. 2 ranked heavyweight contender Sergei Pavlovich with the No. 4 ranked heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall as the co-main event for UFC 295 for the interim heavyweight championship.

There have been speculations surrounding what will happen between Jones and Miocic now that there is an interim title in place. Many believed that Miocic was the odd one out of this equation and may get passed up but Dana White quickly ended those speculations.

“Stipe [Miocic] is not fighting for an interim title. So Jones [Jon] said, I want to fight Stipe [Miocic]. I said you're fighting Stipe [Miocic]. You have the greatest heavyweight of all time versus the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. This is a legacy fight for both of those guys. To even call Stipe [Miocic] and even ask to fight for an interim title is complete disrespect.”

It's looking like the Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight will happen as soon as Jones is healthy enough to return to action. That fight was going to be one of the biggest fights of the year for the UFC and there is no way they would throw that aside to unify the heavyweight title before this fight was to happen. It remains to be seen what the timetable will look like but if estimates are correct that Jones will be sidelined for at least eight months, this fight will not happen until the second half of 2024.