Can Jon Jones really escape his UFC contract and go fight Francis Ngannou? The MMA GOAT has six fights left with the promotion on a deal signed in 2023, and UFC contracts are no joke. Trying to legally break away has never worked in the past, and many had their doubts about Jones doing it when he suggested he’d try on last Saturday’s MVP MMA 1 card.
One person who encouraged Jones to try was fellow former UFC champion Tyron Woodley. Woodley was on the MVP MMA broadcast as well and suggested he knew
a possible route to freedom. Now he’s expanding on those thoughts in an interview with NewBettingSites.uk.
“Conor McGregor boxed Floyd Mayweather,” Woodley said. “My lawyer is the lawyer that actually gave Audie [Attar] and Conor the play and the manoeuvre to do it through the Ali Act. His name is Sam Spira. He doesn’t get a lot of credit for it. If Jon wanted to fight Francis Ngannou, there is a legal way where he can do it. It’s not going to be a cakewalk, but have the legal team deal with it.”
“Jon texted me afterwards, because Jon knows me,” he continued. “He knows if I say something, I’m not going to be sugarcoating it. As I was saying it on air, my lawyer was watching it, so he sent me a text message of exactly the injunction he would have to do, how he would have to file it, and the process. It’s going to be a battle, but this is the way you can do it. Jon asked me himself, he said, ‘Tyron, send me that lawyer’s number that knows that play.’ I said fine, and I forwarded him my lawyer’s info.”
“I would say he has the information he needs, if he legally wants to pursue that,” Woodley concluded. “But he is doing well business-wise. He’s got a lot of things keeping him busy. He’s mentoring and training Gable Steveson, he has Dirty Boxing, he has a lot of streaming opportunities and appearances, training and seminars. So if he wants to fight, he’s got the information to do it. The ball’s in his court.”
A little history lesson on the McGregor manoeuvre that Woodley is citing: back in 2016, the UFC was not on board with Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather boxing, and were trying to shut the idea down. McGregor went and got his boxing license in California and told the media he was willing to use the Muhammad Ali Act if necessary to land himself the estimated $100 million Mayweather fight.
The Ali Act has a number of provisions that would have helped McGregor, as a boxer, combat the UFC in court. The Ali Act bars long-term, exclusive, and coercive contracts — all terms you could apply to UFC contracts. It also limits the ability of a promoter to stop a boxer from being able to accept big bouts like this. In the end, the McGregor manoeuvre was never tested in court. McGregor and the UFC reached an agreement that made UFC a co-promoter on the event and even handed them a significant percentage of McGregor’s purse.
So could Jon Jones break free of his UFC contract via the Ali Act? It’s a possibility, but it’s never actually been pulled off.
