Jon Jones busted out the cowboy hat for the MTV Video Music Awards and shared some details of his future on the red carpet.
Jones hasn’t fought since a November 2024 win over Stipe Miocic, and before that a March 2023 win over Ciryl Gane. The Gane win earned him the vacant UFC heavyweight title, which he defended just once over the 27 months he was the champion.
He then relinquished the title rather than fight Tom Aspinall for $30 million dollars, the second time he’s handed UFC hardware back to the promotion.
They’re not huge fans of fighters doing that, so “Bones” is in the doghouse these days — he says he wants to compete on the big UFC White House card in June, but UFC CEO Dana White has said he doesn’t ‘trust’ Jones with that card.
Jon is still pushing for it, though.
“I am not retired, I’m actively training five days a week and I’m in the UFC’s drug testing pool,” Jones said on the VMA red carpet. “I don’t really know [about the White House card], it’s kind of out of my control right now. I’m training for the event, I’ll be ready for the event. That’s my goal. But ultimately, it’s up to the boss.”
White most recently said the odds were “a billion to one” that Jones would fight on the White House card. Maybe those odds get better if Jon steps into the cage and fights sometime early 2026, but we have our doubts we ever see Jones fighting in the octagon again. UFC wants him to fight Aspinall, he doesn’t want to fight Aspinall, and that’s where we really remain.
