John Jones is aiming to return to action when the UFC heads to the White House for a historic event in 2026, and already has his opponent in mind.
Technically, Jones is looking for someone who holds the belt he abandoned after he announced plans to bring the UFC event to the White House as part of his plans for the US 250 celebration in July next year, after which he announced that he had just decided he wanted to compete again, and that he had temporarily retired from retirement. In the perfect world, Jones found a headline against the heavyweight champion of the UFC White House Card, even though he had the title of the time.
“I want to take on someone who has a belt at the end of the year,” Jones said. All joy In Tiktok. “For now, the champion is Tom Aspinel, but let’s see who the champion is at the end of the year.
Jones was obsessed with the fight against Aspinel for most of 2025. UFC CEO Dana White has repeatedly claimed that Jones had signed a contract to face Aspinall when his promotion returned to Madison Square Garden in New York in November, but plans fell apart.
Jones was unable to enjoy Gold Watch and Timeshare before he already declared plans to return from retirement, including re-registration with the UFC’s doping anti-doping program. White confirmed that Jones has returned to the drug test pool to clear his path to comeback.
The ultimate goal is to land a spot on that White House card, and Jones admits that the magnitude of the event is effectively bringing him back, rather than looking for a particular opponent.
“I think it’s exciting,” Jones said of the White House card. “It’s very exciting. I can’t promise anything, but I have a very strong feeling of riding that card.
“I think it’s going to be incredibly iconic. It’s going to be historic. In my opinion, it’s as big as the thriller in Manila, and the jungle rings. It’s there. It might be bigger than that.”
As soon as Jones retired, the UFC promoted Aspinel to the indisputable champion, with the British star claiming that the promotion had already booked him in a new fight. All signs point to Jones calling the winner later this year, fighting aspinel and Tyryl Gaine.
Jones sent out gains in just over two minutes when he met in the vacant heavyweight title in 2023, and Aspinel is highly preferred for similar results.
Finally, playing the Jones fight may sound like Aspinel’s dream comes true after pushing that matchup from the moment Aspinel won the interim title in 2023. And once again, judging how everything that led to Jones’ sudden retirement unfolds, this all becomes another aspinel nightmare.