Why is Pavlo vs Aspinall an interim fight? Jones being stripped of his belt would appear Sergei Pavlovich vs Tom Aspinall fight for the vacant belt.
The whole idea of an interim belt is for situations like this one when the champion is unable to fight for a long period of time. Jones wasn't quite stripped off of his belt, it's more of putting his title on hold. When he is back, he'll have to face the interim champion for the undisputed title.
Yup and he's gonna face either of those guys at some point in the future anyway... It's just when he's back he'll skip Stipe Miocic. But the thing is at Jones' age, recovery and rehab after the surgery could take longer than anticipated. And even if he does return at the anticipated time, his knee could continue to bother him. He'll prolly have one or two more fights in him then call it quits.