Jon Jones issued his first statement in response to Dana White and the UFC’s proposed event at the White House.
Jones retired, and then abruptly unretired following the reveal that the promotion plans to hold a fight card on the White House’s South Lawn in Washington, D.C. Despite White constantly putting Jones over as the greatest fighter of all-time, the UFC CEO said the chances of Jones fighting on the historic card are “a billion to one” during the UFC 319 post-fight press conference. On Monday,
Jones responded to White via Twitter.
“Despite the odds, I’m still training and optimistic about the possibility of being part of the White House event,” Jones wrote. “At the end of the day, Dana is the boss and it’s his call whether I compete that night or not. I do know Dana was really excited about the fight, and the door hasn’t been completely closed. That’s all a guy like me really needs. It sounds like another awesome goal to be inspired by. Sometimes in life, we’re not going to reach everything we set out to do and that’s okay. But I like my chances… after all, one in a billion is exactly what it took to end up as Jon ‘Bones’ Jones in the first place.”
Jones competed twice at heavyweight, winning the vacant title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023, then stopping Stipe Miocic this past November at UFC 309.
While that fight certainly happened, it wasn’t the matchup most were clamoring for as Tom Aspinall was sitting as the interim champion for a year, and the vast majority of the fan base wanted to see a Jones vs. Aspinall unification bout.
Jones retired in June, and Aspinall was promoted to undisputed champion. Aspinall faces Gane in the main event of UFC 321 in his first title defense, and has said he no longer has any interest in facing Jones after demanding that fight for nearly two years.
