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Dana White has outlined the UFC’s position on Jon Jones’ next fight, confirming plans for the American to take on interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

There is controversy surrounding Jones’ reluctance to fight the British fighter following his historic fight against Stipe Miocicat at UFC 309 on Saturday.

And fans have been pressing for confirmation that, should he beat Miocic, Jones will return to the octagon against Aspinall in a mouthwatering clash of generations.

But despite the American’s criticism of Aspinall’s resume and desire to face higher profile fighters such as Alex Pereira, White continues to insist that Jones’ UFC future after this weekend must go through Aspinall.

“Obviously a guy like Jon Jones has had a career and if he wants something, we’ll do it,” White told The Pat McAfee Show. “But you can’t just want to do a nice fight and not fight the interim champion, the guy who’s next.

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“When Jon Jones retires on Saturday, Tom Aspinall will be the heavyweight champion. Jones was presented with opportunities when he was 23, the youngest heavyweight champion of all time.

“Now that he is where he is, it is his duty to give it to the younger man and give him that opportunity. But if he beats Tom Aspinall, then yes, I would take the Alex Pereira fight.”

Jones will defend the heavyweight title against former champion Miocic at UFC 309 on November 16, a year after the fight fell through.

Jones, 37, suffered a pectoral injury two weeks before UFC 295, postponing his fight with Miocic, 42. Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich intervened, with the Briton knocking out the Russian in the first round to win the interim title.

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Aspinall, 31, has since retained that title with a knockout of Curtis Blaydes in July, and he hopes to meet the winner of Jones vs Miocic. However, Jones has teased that he could retire after UFC 309, and many fans expect Miocic to do the same.

“(If) one guy wants to retire, one guy wants to move on, both guys want to retire, whatever – we’ve got all the bases covered,” Aspinall told Uncrowned on Monday (October 14).

“Yes, it’s official. I mean, Dana (White, UFC president) announced it a while ago, but I haven’t actually heard anything from the UFC. But now that we’ve spoken, everything is going well. We agree, we know what will happen in the future.

“We have plans, we have future battle plans, everything is correct. It’s going to be a good few years, I can tell you that. Big plans, big, big, huge plans. I can’t explain it to you!”