Alex Pereira recently climbed back to the top of the light heavyweight division after stopping Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320, and a possible fight against Jon Jones at the White House card in 2026 has everyone talking.
But UFC veteran Matt Brown doesn’t see that matchup as competitive. He believes Jones’ size and wrestling make him a serious problem for Pereira, while also pointing to Tom Aspinall as the opponent who should be next for Jones.
Brown breaks down the matchup
“I want the competitive fight,” Brown explained on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “That goes exactly right into what I was saying. Do we want entertainment? What Alex and Jon is going to do is it’s going to have a ridiculous buildup. Where everybody’s going to be pumped. There’s going to be people betting on Alex, there’s going to be people just like Conor [McGregor] going and fighting Floyd [Mayweather] — like oh yeah, Conor’s got a chance! I think Alex has a better chance than Conor did against Floyd, by the way, but you get my point.
“The matchup is literally the nightmare matchup for Alex Pereira. Jon is as big, probably a little bit bigger than Alex Pereira. At heavyweight, certainly bigger. A million times better wrestler. There’s no way in hell that Alex has wrestling at Jon Jones’ level at this point. Even if Jon Jones is out doing cocaine for the last year and then just shows up and fights.”
Brown points out that Jones’ physical advantages and grappling would likely overwhelm Pereira, who has excelled against strikers but hasn’t faced someone with Jones’ complete skill set.
Why Brown prefers Aspinall vs Jones
The UFC legend also shared why Tom Aspinall is the fight he wants to see. The heavyweight champion has torn through opponents, with all eight of his UFC wins coming by knockout or submission and only one going past the first round.
“I still think he should still fight Tom Aspinall. I don’t know which is really a bigger fight. I know he’s a bigger star, but Jon Jones is big enough to carry whatever fight that he comes back to. If it’s Tom Aspinall, he’s fighting for the heavyweight title now and that makes it as big of a fight as if he’s fighting Alex Pereira just to be fighting Alex Pereira, I think.”
Brown argues that Aspinall is a real danger to Jones, especially with the current state of the heavyweight division.
“If I’m the UFC, personally, I take the risk with Tom,” Brown said. “If Tom loses, the heavyweight division basically already sucks. He loses, it sucks a little bit more and Jon Jones is so great that we can’t find a heavyweight to beat him either. If Tom wins, it brings an entirely new spark to the heavyweight division and the heavyweights are the sellers. Every combat sport in history, everybody wants to watch the heavyweights.
“Tom, if he’s able to go out and secure a victory, he is the baddest man on the planet. He also happens to be well spoken, a good dude that is able to stay out of trouble, so far at least, gets the job done and it’s a fairly marketable guy. I think there’s more upside.”
Jones’ possible plans for White House event
Jon Jones has shown little interest in facing Aspinall before, but the potential White House card in 2026 might change his plans. He recently ended his brief retirement, and a fight at that event is one of the reasons he came back.
Brown knows Jones has the power to push for the matchup he wants.
“You know Jon’s going to push for that,” Brown said. “He might even say if you don’t give me Alex, I don’t fight at the White House, f*ck ya’ll. Go get Conor and Michael [Chandler]. He might do that. Jon’s that type of guy.” via MMAFighting
Jon Jones last fought in 2024 against Stipe Miocic. Afterward, he was in serious talks to face Tom Aspinall, even reportedly turning down $30 million, and then retired earlier this year. In preparation for the UFC White House event, Jones re-entered the UFC drug testing pool in 2025 to become eligible for competition.
