Reigning UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones (28-1, 1 NC), will be defending his 265-pound strap against current interim titleholder, Tom Aspinall (15-3), “this year,” according to a “very confident” UFC CEO, Dana White.
And it won’t cost him $30 million.
“We’re in the works, we’re talking on it,” White told Jim Rome. “I’ve said that I’m very confident that fight happens this year. Nothing’s holding it up, it’s just a matter of getting it done. It’s not as easy to put these types of fights together that people think they are. They take time — but we’ll get it done.”
That’s guaranteed!
TTT
like clockwork every year same shit…
Im confident Conor will fight this year!
Im confident Jon will fight this year!
Exactly. It’s “Nothing” that’s holding up the fight. Whatever that “Nothing” is, lol.
Supposedly it’s not the $30m number the internet guessed based on previous Jones comments.
I wonder what the actual number is.
If they’ve paid GSP, Lesnar, Mac $10m+/- for main events in the past, I wonder how far apart they are.
IMO $20m is not delusional from Jones here.
And doesn’t really set a precedent Dana has to deal with. Only 1 guy in history with a 20yr win streak of like 17 title matches
Jones is a historic-level athlete, but even with that said, he’s NEVER brought in those kinds of numbers. Otherwise, he would have been paid that much already. The UFC will pay you if you can actually bring in those numbers. They really don’t give a shit how great you are. That’s just icing on the cake for their marketing department.
That’s why this needs to be vs AP.
Dana must love these early months, gives him a ton of time to lie about top fights he’s going to fail to put on again
Jones has a surprising amount of entires in highest PPV events, (his 2 highest being both Cormier fights)
And like those, this has a great story and huge marketing campaign right there for it.
PPV buys list is near the bottom of the page.
He’s basically an all-star level PPV sell. But not all-pro. GSP was selling significantly more PPVs.
$10 million a fight feels about right given the UFC’s standards, imo.
But Jones also knows he has some leverage in this situation b/c people want to see this fight.
Whatever the number is, pretty clear Jones wants an eight-figure payday for the fight.
Dude is half out the door. 37 years old and clearly wants to fuck off and enjoy his 40s after almost two decades of being a pro.
If he’s the GOAT as Dana says, pay him like it. 
Jones is getting KOed or Toms knee will be kicked to bolivia
I’d love to see Jones take a loss.
Demetrious Johnson was the GOAT, too. Look how that turned out!!!
Mighty Mouse didn’t realize how much the UFC was lowballing him until after he left.