UFC CEO Dana White has changed his tune on booking Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira – sort of.

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) has claimed ahead of Saturday’s heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) at UFC 309 that if he is successful he will not unify the titles with interim titles. champion Tom Aspinall. Instead, he wants reigning light-heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira, who he said is the only match that would keep him from retiring.

White has already expressed his displeasure with these comments, saying he believes Jones vs. Pereira fight next and that “Bones” has the option to retire or unite with Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC). He supports that, but thinks a compromise is possible that can satisfy everyone involved.

“Obviously a guy like Jon Jones has had a career where if he wanted to do something, we would do it,” White said on The Pat McAfee Show. “But you can’t just do a nice fight and not fight the interim heavyweight champion, the guy who’s next – because if Jon Jones were to retire on Saturday, Tom Aspinall would be the heavyweight champion.

“Opportunities were given to Jon Jones. He was 23, he was the youngest champion of all time. Now that he’s where he is, it’s his duty to give it to the younger man to give him that opportunity. If he beats Tom Aspinall, then yes, I would take the Alex Pereira fight.

It remains to be seen if Jones will be open to fighting Aspinall. He said at UFC 309 that the Brit was “an asshole” and that he doesn’t want to do business with him.

UFC 309 takes place at Madison Square Garden. The main card will air on ESPN+ pay-per-view following the preliminaries on ESPNews and ESPN+.

For more information on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s events hub for UFC 309.