Jon Jones has made an impassioned plea to be released by the UFC, after he and the promotion’s president Dana Whites gave conflicting accounts on their “negotiations”.
On Saturday night, the UFC announced its fight card for an unprecedented event at the White House, which will take place on 14 June. And after the card was unveiled, White insisted Jones was never “remotely in my mind” to feature, despite Jones’s desperation to be involved.
“Some guy with Meta glasses filmed [Jones] talking that his hips were so bad, I don’t know if you saw that flag football game where he can barely run,” said White. “He’s got arthritis in his hips, the doctor said he should have a hip replacement. Add that on top of all the other reasons that I wouldn’t [involve him].
“The Jon Jones thing was bulls***. I’m not saying we weren’t talking to Jon Jones and Jon Jones wasn’t interested in the fight, [but] what was even crazier was: Jon Jones came out and was like, ‘I’m in negotiations right now for the White House fight,’ after I sent a text to his lawyer saying ‘never gonna happen, ever’.”
White also claimed it was fair to say Jones was retired. In response, Jones posted a series of since-deleted tweets, in which he lamented how “painful” White’s words were. Now, the former heavyweight and light-heavyweight champion has gone further, writing an impassioned post on X.
“Hey everyone, I wanted to address Dana White’s comments from this past weekend, because the truth matters to me and the fans,” wrote the American, 38, on Monday.
“Dana, you were heated about why I’m not on the White House card, but let’s clear something up,” Jones continued, before claiming: “My team and I were actually negotiating with the UFC for that fight. Real negotiations. I even came down from my original number, and what was I offered in return ? I was lowballed.
“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight. So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready.
“After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.
“If the UFC truly feels like I’m done, then I respectfully ask to be released from my contract today. No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up.”
One surprising defender of Jones’s stance was his rival Tom Aspinall.
Jones stalled the Briton’s career by refusing to defend the heavyweight title against him, despite Aspinall holding the interim belt for 20 months of Jones’s 28-month reign. Ultimately, Jones retired last July and Aspinall was elevated to regular champion.
“This is probably going to be crazy to a lot of people listening,” Aspinall said on Monday, speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, “but why is the UFC not giving Jon the respect he deserves financially?
“That’s crazy to me. If anyone should be getting paid a lot in this sport, it should be Jon Jones for the stuff that he’s done – and that’s me saying that, after the history that I’ve had with Jon Jones.
“If anybody should be getting money in this sport, it’s Jon Jones. They offered him $30m to fight me, so why have they not offered it again? I don’t understand.” Aspinall was referring to a report by Helwani himself, that Jones refused a $30m fee to take on the 32-year-old in 2025.
Aspinall continued: “Those guys who we’re talking about – Conor McGregor and Jon Jones, and guys like that – those are the guys who’ve brought in the revenue for over 10 years. They need to be getting paid what they deserve.”
With Jones not fighting at the White House, and with Aspinall recovering from an eye injury, the UFC has booked Alex Pereira vs Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title.
It was actually Gane who caused Aspinall’s injury in October, poking him in the eye multiple times in their fight to force a no-contest. Meanwhile, ex-middleweight champion Pereira gave up the light-heavyweight belt this month; he eyes history as the UFC’s first-ever three-weight title holder when he fights Gane.
Last week, it was surprisingly announced that Aspinall had signed with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn as part of Matchroom’s new talent agency. Many fans were quick to note Hearn’s ongoing rivalry with UFC boss White, who is heading up a new venture: Zuffa Boxing.
