The closer we get to Saturday's UFC 309 pay-per-view card inside New York's Madison Square Garden, the less we seem to be talking about the full-time firefighter and UFC legend who makes up one half of the main event.

Jones has cooled on the idea of fighting his next challenger, should he defeat Miocic. British fighter Tom Aspinall has held down the division as interim heavyweight champion — a title necessitated by Jones’ lengthy absence — and has been chirping for months about a unification bout.