Jon Jones vs. Dana White? Who blinks first?
If you ask former two-division champion Henry Cejudo, it’s the UFC CEO who eventually gives in to Jones’ demands to fight at the UFC White House event, expected
to take place in June 2026 ahead of America’s 250th Independence Day celebration. Jones, also a former two-division champion and arguably the greatest fighter in UFC history, retired this past June, only to reverse course shortly after when President Donald Trump announced his intentions to hold a UFC show on the White House lawn.
White has said it’s a ‘a billion-to-one’ chance he books Jones for the event, citing Jones’s storied history of legal issues and drug-test failures, several of which have directly disrupted the UFC’s plans. But Cejudo thinks it’s only a matter of time before Jones and White end up on the same page.
“President Dana White is going to cave in,” Cejudo said on the Pound 4 Pound podcast. “He’s going to give Jon Jones that opportunity.
“I understand Dana White’s point, too, because Jon Jones, he is a bit of a wild card. Some shit could happen. Obviously, his legal record, too, says a lot. And I love Jon, but let’s speak the facts.”
As of now, the early planning stages for UFC White House are focused on logistics, budget, security, and numerous other practical considerations, so actually booking fighters for the event is strictly theoretical. Jones is one of several notable names who have thrown their hat in the proverbial ring, with Conor McGregor also vowing to be part of the lineup.
Cejudo and podcast co-host Kamaru Usman agree it’s going to take a lot for Jones to get back in White’s good graces, especially when it comes to potentially headlining a historic sporting event.
In addition to Jones’ well-documented outside-of-the-cage issues, Usman thinks Jones’ choice to retire rather than fight Tom Aspinall in a heavyweight championship unification bout despite reportedly being offered a significant payday is another reason White is reluctant to do business with him again.
“I would love that for Jon Jones, but Jon, you can’t play with the game the way he’s played with the game and expect Dana to still trust you and let you back in and do this,” Usman said. “You can’t play with the game like that.
“But if Dana is entertaining that, getting Jon back, I think this is a phenomenal one for him.”
“This would be the main event,” Cejudo said about Jones potentially fighting Aspinall. “USA vs. England, we’re taking this shit back to 1776 and I do believe that Jon Jones takes out Tom Aspinall within the first championship rounds, I truly do believe that.
“This should be the main event. Everything else should freaking follow.”
Jones reportedly declined a $30 million offer to fight Aspinall previously, an eye-popping number that only served to bolster the argument that he was “ducking” a fight with Aspinall.
Even if Jones can convince White to take him to the White House, Cejudo thinks there’s no chance that yesterday’s price is the same today.
“This is where [Jones] f*cked up,” Cejudo said. “In business, you just cannot do that. You cannot do that. He’s going to probably get paid half, maybe, I would say even $10 million, in comparison to the [$30 million] that they were actually going to give him against Tom.”
