Jon Jones is prepared to dump his world title in the bin rather than defend it against Tom Aspinall.
Jones stopped former champion Stipe Miocic in the third round at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night to defend his heavyweight belt. His next fight should be against Manchester's interim champion Aspinall who has waited patiently for his shot at the full title.
But Jones branded his rival an "a**hole' in the build-up to his clash with Miocic and is in no mood to hand the Brit a shot. "I find him annoying and I just don't like him," said Jones after retaining his belt. "If I give him the opportunity to fight me, I want to be compensated, I want that 'f*** you' money, or else my life is perfect without him.
"He needs me, I don't need him, and that's a good place to be in a negotiation. I want to be compensated to the point where, if I won or lost, then it really wouldn't matter. "Tom can have the heavyweight championship, I don't really care about it. My value doesn't really lie in belts anymore, I've created something much bigger."
Jones wants to instead face light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira - but UFC CEO Dana White is not keen. "I'm not really worried about the Tom fight, I'm worried about the Pereira fight," added Jones. "That's what I want to do and I think if the UFC wants to have me back then that's the fight they'll make.
"I've been really clear about my intentions; that's what I want and I think anyone would understand that at this point. I feel like I'm at a place where I want to take super-fights. I don't want to fight dangerous up-and-comers any more, I want to fight dangerous, established champions.
"It would be worth my while fighting him. People can call me a duck and a chicken but I'm going to go home and cash a massive cheque. If that was my last fight ever then I'm cool with that, that was the way to do it."
But Aspinall, who was cageside on Saturday, is confident he will be granted his shot at Jones. "I was getting a few nods and winks off the bosses when Jon was talking about his next fight,” he said. "I’ve spoken to the UFC brass and it's potentially one of the biggest fights in UFC history. This is what the people want to see, and we’ve got to give it to them."