UFC president Dana White has said Tom Aspinall would "100%" have been set to fight Alex Pereira at the White House this weekend had he not been injured.
Pereira (13-3) will face Ciryl Gane (13-2) in the UFC Freedom 250 co-main event [Monday morning BST] for the interim heavyweight title.
Brit Aspinall (15-3) hasn't fought since he suffered a serious eye injury against Gane last October. He has undergone multiple surgeries and a timeframe for his return remains up in the air.
While the heavyweight contest between Pereira and Gane at the White House event will be for the right to face Aspinall when he does return, White has told TNT Sports Aspinall would have featured had he not been injured.
"100% that would have been the fight if he was [fit]," White said.
"A lot of our champions are hurt right now. There's a lot of things you have to deal with when you're making these matches with timing and everything else going on in everybody's life. But yeah, it would have been Tom."
While Aspinall's immediate future remains unclear, his manager Eddie Hearn told reporters last week that the UFC did not extend an invitation to the heavyweight champion to attend the White House event.
Hearn also said that he would advise Aspinall against fighting the winner of Pereira vs. Gane under the current conditions of his deal with the UFC.
"I'm not going to let Tom Aspinall fight for the kind of money that's in his contract," Hearn told reporters. "To be involved in a fight against Pereira or Gane for literally 1/50th of the revenue of that show, f--- that. I won't let him do it. It's time those UFC fighters stop being mugs and start to understand that these people are taking advantage of them. They deserve better.
"My advice to Tom Aspinall will be, 'Don't you dare take that fight for the money that's in your contract.'"
Construction for the UFC White House event is taking shape, while a federal lawsuit has been filed in a bid to halt the showpiece going ahead.