Jon Jones claims he was deep in negotiations with the UFC to compete on the upcoming White House card, but the promotion wouldnāt budge on its financial offer.
On Saturday, Jones responded to a fan asking about him potentially facing Alex Pereira at the historic card planned for June 14 in Washington D.C. Itās been well documented that Jones put off retirement specifically for the opportunity to potentially fight at the White House, and he says his asking price was much lower than the offer made for him to face Tom Aspinall in a heavyweight title unification bout.
Jones was reportedly offered around $30 million to fight Aspinall, but he ultimately passed and briefly retired from the sport.
āWas ready, willing and physically able to step in,ā Jones wrote on Twitter. āI was willing to take substantially less than the Aspinall ask but they wouldnāt budge one dollar over $15 [million]. I felt like our fight was worth more.ā
UFC doesnāt publicly disclose fighter paydays so itās impossible to know for certain how much or how little that number compared to Jonesā past fights with the promotion.
After announcing the UFC White House card, UFC CEO Dana White stated that the organization was talking to numerous fighters about potentially competing at that event, but he swears Jones was never in serious consideration due to past instances where heās dropped out of fights or pulled out of fights due to outside-the-cage behavior.
āNever, ever, ever, which I told you guys 100,000 times was Jon Jones even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,ā White said after UFC 326.. āFirst of all, Iāve told you why I wouldnāt do it and No. 2 some guy with Meta glasses on filmed him talking about his hips, that his hips are so bad and I donāt know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones, he retired because of his hips. Heās got arthritis in his hips, apparently doctors say he should have hip replacements.
āThat on top of all the other reasons that I wouldnāt [put him at the White House]. The Jon Jones thing is bullshit.ā
Of course, Jones vehemently disagreed with that version of the story and actually went as far as asking for his release from the UFC.
Regardless, Jones isnāt fighting at the UFC White House card, and the promotion eventually shifted attention to booking Pereira against Ciryl Gane in an interim heavyweight title fight instead.
He would just do Cyril Gane and be boring like he has been forever. I dont even recall his last exciting matchup. DC maybe?
the mean streets of Albuquerque
Ya know what, I forgot his head vs cop and the cop car hood.
He was calling them nerds and said he hated them lol
Equal parts funny and terrifying
Also he almost got caught getting drunk and shooting random homeless people in NM lol
Heās a fool. Heāll never get a better offer than that in MMA the rest of his life.
FIFY
Didnāt he reportedly turn down as much as $20 million for Aspinall?!?!
Bet his kids and family must be loving that.
Jon is locked into a UFC contract for like 6 more fights. Iām sure there is a sunset clause but thatāll be a while.
15 MILLION and has not stepped in a cage in Years
An old fighter with arthritis and no real post fight career options because of his past behavior should not turn down what is probably a top 10 UFC payday.
Jones is such a fucking clown
So heās turned down a total of $45 million since beating Stipe? What an idiot
the way dana devalues his own fighters when theyāre at the end of the road or not doing what he wants is nasty. iād never want to work for that guy. but iād love to have a meal with him.