UFC 309 takeaways: Jon Jones' next fight, Michael Chandler's excitement, Bo Nickal and Chris Weidman

1. Will it be Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall or Alex Pereira or retirement next?

Dana White calls the shots when it comes to the UFC, but Jon Jones holds all the chips when it comes to his next fight.

White wants Jones, still the reigning heavyweight champion after his TKO over Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, to fight the interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. White says it would be “the biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history.”

Jones, after 20 consecutive wins including 18 title fights, says he doesn’t care to fight “dangerous up-and-comers” anymore and instead wants “dangerous established champions.” That would be light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, a ferocious striker who casts a fearsome presence inside the octagon.

Jones, 37, said he’s prepared to retire from the sport if he doesn’t get the Pereira fight — or a paycheck with a significant number of zeroes and multiple commas in the amount field to face Aspinall.

“My life is perfect without him,” Jones said about Aspinall at his post-fight news conference. “I don't need him at all, and he needs me, and that's a good place to be in a negotiation.”

Jones’ resume speaks for itself. And if it’s good enough for White to regularly proclaim Jones as the greatest fighter ever, it should be strong enough to dictate his next opponent.

White said he doesn’t think Jones vs. Pereira makes sense over Jones vs. Aspinall but added that if Jones and Pereira press the issue, he’d try to put it together.

“If they go crazy on me and they want to do it, then, what am I going to do?” White said.

2. There is no debating Jon Jones as the best ever.

Is there anyone left to throw into the conversation just to create a discussion about the best MMA fighter ever? The answer is Jonathan Dwight Jones, aka Jon “Bones” Jones.

Jones systematically picked apart Stipe Miocic, the most decorated heavyweight champion in UFC history, on Saturday night. He mixed up his strikes, showed a dominant jab, worked the body, was wise enough to back away and escape any time Miocic landed a strike and tried to get in close and showed off his new trick – a spinning back kick that ended the fight.

UFC president Dana White took his praise of Jones as the greatest of all time into another dimension after Saturday night.

“He is the best to ever fight any fight, period. Ever,” White said. “Maybe the Roman days, but I don’t know anybody who fought back then. But since people have documenting fighting, he’s the best ever.”

3. Michael Chandler is not a man. He’s a machine.

Few fighters can go 2-3 to start the UFC portion of their career and still feel the type of job security Michael Chandler possesses.

“He's one of those guys win, lose or draw, you're never bummed out at the end of a Michael Chandler fight,” White said.

Chandler put on another electric, exciting and almost heroic performance in a loss to Charles Oliveira. After 20 minutes on the wrong end of Oliveira, Chandler opened the fifth round with the same high-octane energy of a first round. He had one chance to win the fight – a finish. And he nearly pulled it off as he had the former lightweight champion on the ground and was just a few strikes away from the miraculous comeback.

Then came the final minute when Chandler really ignited the crowd. With Oliveira clinging to Chandler’s back, Chandler made it to his feet and walked to the center of the cage, jumped backward and slammed Oliveira to the mat. Oliveira hung on. Chandler did the same thing, only this time he paused for a few seconds in the center of the cage, drawing greater applause for what felt like a scene from a movie fight.

“The kid always tries to win,” White said. “He always comes to fight. And Michael Chandler is always going to have a home here. Until he decides to retire, Michael Chandler isn't going anywhere.”

4. Bo Nickal can go the distance.

Who needs takedowns and a ground game when you can keep the fight standing and see success? That was what Bo Nickal, a three-time national champion wrestler and former world gold medalist, did in just his seventh pro fight. He attempted no takedowns as he and ground specialist Paul Craig (13 submissions) went the full three rounds on their feet.

The sell-out MSG crowd of 20,200 may not have agreed, but it was important for Nickal to show that he could go the distance. That’s more cage time for a rising middleweight prospect who had stopped all six of his previous opponents, including five in the first round.

“I can't even say how happy I am with that performance,” Nickal said. “Despite reactions from whoever, it doesn't really matter to me. I'm psyched. I beat a guy, tricky fighter with 18 UFC fights and a ton of experience, and I was able to dominate him, shut him out, and win a decision very easily and barely sweating by the end of it.”

UFC president Dana White agreed.

“He still dominated and won the whole fight,” White said, “but he’s still got work to do.”

5. New York City and Chris Weidman don’t get along.

More than a decade ago, Chris Weidman, the former middleweight champion from Baldwin, helped lobby to legalize MMA in New York. Since then, the big city has not been kind to him inside the octagon. He lost his first two fights at MSG, both by knockout and both in the last round when he had won the first two. This time, he didn’t even get a chance to step into the octagon. His fight with Eryk Anders was canceled shortly before the event when Anders had to pull out because of an illness.

“My head is spinning right now that this is happening,” Weidman, 40, said in a video he posted on social media. “I was about to walk to the arena. I just said prayers with my family. I felt so good. I was so excited to put on a show at Madison Square Garden. I’m so gutted.”

By Mark La Monica

mark.lamonica@newsday.comLaMonicaMark

Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.