- UFC president Dana White took to Instagram live for major fight announcements
- He also issued significant update for fans wanting Tom Aspinall vs Jon Jones
- Jones had earlier appeared to distance himself from heavyweight showdown
Dana White took to Instagram live with three major title fights announced on Tuesday night.
The UFC president began by stating that Ilia Topuria, the featherweight champion, will take on Charles Oliveira for the lightweight belt.
Topuria has become one of the sport’s biggest stars and is already bidding to become a double champion, having won the title at 145-pounds.
That will headline International Fight Week on June 28 in Las Vegas, with Alexandre Pantoja vs Kai Kara-France for the flyweight title taking the co-main event slot.
Topuria vs Oliveira can only take place for the lightweight title because Islam Makhachev has vacated the belt.
He’ll be moving up to welterweight to face Jack Della Maddalena for a chance to become double champ himself.
Dana White announced a host of new fights for this year and set out the plan for the summer
Ilia Topuria, pictured here with partner Giorgina Uzcategui, will take on Charles Oliveira
Islam Makhachev is vacating his lightweight belt and moving up to face Jack Della Maddalena
Maddalena is fresh off his five-round win over Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 last Saturday so the date and location of his battle with the Russian is yet to be announced.
On August 18, Dricus du Plessis will put his middleweight belt on the line against undefeated sensation Khamzat Chimaev.
Availability has been the main issue for Chimaev, who has struggled with his health and the after-effects of Covid, while also having problems cutting weight.
There should be no such issues for him at middleweight, where he faces the South African champion, who is also undefeated since joining the UFC.
On the live stream, plenty of fans were commenting, asking the UFC president whether they can expect an announcement for Tom Aspinall vs Jon Jones.
White said: ‘I told you guys already, we’ll get Aspinall vs Jones done. The heavyweight fight will happen. Just relax, I’ll announce that soon.’
His confidence should put Aspinall and fans at ease, with Jones never committing publicly to the fight.
On Tuesday, he hit back at fans accusing him of ducking the match-up, while riding on a motorbike during a live stream of his own.
Khamzat Chimaev will face Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title in August
Tom Aspinall will be reassured by White’s update about his potential fight with Jon Jones
He said: ‘I’ve got people in the chat calling me a duck. Meanwhile, I’m living my absolute best life.
‘I don’t know if it’s considered ducking when you’re living good. I don’t think it works like that.’
It seems that contest would have to take place towards the end of the year and Aspinall is growing tired of waiting – so is unlikely to hang on much longer before moving on to a different opponent.
