Jon Jones may be the MMA GOAT, but he’s not reliable enough for UFC to book him on the promotion’s upcoming 2026 White House card.
That’s the official line repeatedly coming from big boss Dana White’s lips. White has dealt with too many “Bones” induced headaches over the years: UFC 151 getting cancelled after Jones refused to fight a replacement opponent, UFC 200 losing Jones vs. Cormier 2 after Jon tested positive for steroids. The whole Jones vs. Aspinall saga, which ended with Jones retiring and
relinquishing the title — which marks the fourth belt he’s handed back to the promotion.
Other than White, no one has been put through the ringer over Jones drama more than Daniel Cormier, but “DC” still believes the UFC should let Jon compete on the June White House card. His reasoning? UFC is thin on winning Americans, and could use “Bones” to beef up Team USA.
“Imagine if we’re on the White House lawn and the Americans aren’t winning fights,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “And that could happen. When the opening line for McGregor vs. Chandler comes out, Chandler is going to be a pretty substantial underdog, as he should be. Even though Conor hasn’t fought forever, he’ll still be the favorite to beat Michael Chandler.”
“But if you put Jon Jones against Tom Aspinall for what everybody says, that Tom Aspinall is the guy to beat him, when that line opens, I bet Jon Jones is still going to be the favorite. He’ll be the favorite to beat Tom Aspinall. He’ll be the guy who’s the world champion, or at least was the world champion before he vacated his title and retired. He’ll still be the favorite to win that fight. I think you’ve got to let him fight.”
As for how the UFC should deal with Jones’ inconsistency?
“I think you put some things in his contract that makes it very costly to not follow through,” Cormier suggested. “If you put Jon Jones on the White House card, say something that happens in the law, and he has to be pulled from the card? $1 million. Say he just says he doesn’t want to fight? $1 million.”
“Say he gets injured, then it should be less, as long as the injury can be proven. If the injury is proven, charge him nothing. He’s just a normal fighter, who got injured in training camp. But you put these safeguards in place to make sure that he shows up there.”
Dana White has said he doesn’t intend to start matchmaking the White House card til February 2026, but has already said Conor McGregor is a likely choice because he can rely on McGregor. White also had women’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison visit Trump at the White House. Considering she’s the only American-born champion on the roster, we’d say that gives her a shoe-in for the card.
As for Jon Jones? If he wants to make it onto the White House card, make him work for it: there’s no reason why he couldn’t fight in February and June to prove he’s engaged and reliable.
