The UFC does not look in a good position at the moment. Why? Well, the three biggest fights that could be made in the sport are all wrapped in a blanket of uncertainty. Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall heavyweight title unification bout continues to be in limbo, even after the Englishman holding the interim gold for more than 500 days at this point since winning it back at UFC 295. Although Aspinall has hinted that the fight is happening and Dana White has claimed “it’s done but it is not done,” we do not know when or even if the fight will happen.

Not to mention, Islam Makhachev has flatly refused to fight Ilia Topuria for the lightweight title next, putting that super-fight in cold storage. The lightweight champ had floated Justin Gaethje‘s name while his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, views Arman Tsarukyan as a bigger challenge for the Dagestani. However, the UFC brass is adamant that the Armenian needs to work his way back to the belt after his UFC 311 pullout. Meanwhile, Charles Oliveira feels he deserves a title rematch and has made it clear that he won’t accept anything less than a fight for the undisputed gold.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Topuria, who says he was promised a title shot by the UFC on moving up, has claimed that he would rather sit out and wait until the Dagestani agrees to face him. And over the past few days, things started looking even bleaker for UFC fans, as reports surfaced that the 185lbs kingpin, Dricus Du Plessis, is injured and won’t be able to headline UFC 317 opposite Khamzat Chimaev, as he had been rumored to do.

Moreover, popular X account ‘Spinnin’ Backfist’ pointed out a Snapchat post by one of Sean O’Malley‘s friends showed ‘Suga’ on crutches. The former champ, of course, is set to rematch Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316 in June, which may be in jeopardy now.

“DDP injured.
Suga Sean on crutches.
Topuria/Charles will only fight for title.
Islam only wants to fight Gaethje.
Jon Jones nowhere to be found,” they wrote.

Of course, fans were exasperated after reading the post and realizing just how dire the situation was for the UFC this summer, and took to social media to let their thoughts about it known.

Fans react to Dana White and UFC’s matchmaking woes for this summer

One fan had enough of Jon Jones dragging his feet on the Tom Aspinall fight, and felt that Dana White should move on and make Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane for the undisputed title: “Strip Jones of the title if he won’t commit to fighting Aspinall within 3 months, and have Aspinall-Gane headline a card for the heavyweight title.” Another fan did agree that the situation was a bit alarming for the UFC and its fans. But they took solace in the fact that Alexander Volkanovski had won back the featherweight title at UFC 314 against Diego Lopes: “At least we got Volk as champ again.”

One fan was disappointed at White in particular for not living up to the promise that the UFC is where the best fight the best. They opined that the UFC CEO should force the Aspinall-Jones and Makhachev-Topuria super-fights if the delays continue: “The UFC brass needs to grow some balls. Dana always preaches how this isn’t boxing, but it’s looking a lot like it right now. Put your foot down and make the biggest fights ffs”

Another fan felt that the summer indeed could be saved if at least Makhachev agrees to fight Topuria next: “Only Islam can save us”. Another wasn’t buying Makhachev’s claims that the reason he did not want to fight Topuria was because he wants the freshly moved-up former featherweight champ to fight another top lightweight to prove he belongs at 155lbs. No, they thought this was just an example of good old-fashioned ducking on the Dagestani’s part: “Islam’s generational ducking of Topuria needs to be studied more.”

But another fan was far more hopeful because they felt that the two men who had stepped in to save multiple UFC cards before. We are, of course, talking about Alexander Volkanovski and Alex Pereira. The fan hoped that the duo would step in to save the UFC’s summer: “Volk and Poatan gonna jump back in and save the summer lol”.

One fan cautioned his fellow fans of being too pessimistic, pointing out that while there have been rumors about Du Plessis’ and O’Malley’s injuries, they have not been confirmed, which means there is still a chance they fight this summer: “AFAIK the injuries are just rumors and haven’t been confirmed by either camp”. What do you think about the UFC’s super-fight issues this summer?