Dana White has insisted that Jon Jones was “never” in his thoughts for the UFC’s White House card and reiterated that the former heavyweight champion is retired.
Jones was a notable omission from the event’s main card that was finally announced during the UFC 326 broadcast, the co-main event of which pits rumoured opponent Alex Pereira against Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight championship.
Jones had said that he was in “negotiations” over a return to fight at the White House, which would have come a year on from his retirement.
White, however, asserted that the 38-year-old’s claims were anything but the truth and that he had been informed that the UFC had no intention of including in the event.
“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys 100,000 times, was Jon Jones ever remotely in my mind to fight at the White House. I’ve told you why I wouldn’t do it,” he said.
“ Some guy with Meta glasses filmed talking that his hips were so bad, I don’t know if you saw that flag football game where he can barely run, he’s got arthritis in his hips, the doctor said he should have a hip replacement.
“Add that on top of all the other reasons that I wouldn’t, the Jon Jones thing was bulls***. I’m not saying we weren’t talking to Jon Jones and Jon Jones wasn’t interested in the fight.
“And what was even crazier was Jon Jones came out and was like ‘I’m in negotiations right now for the White House fight’ after I sent a text to his lawyer saying ‘never gonna happen, ever’.”
When asked if it is fair to say Jon Jones is retired, White replied: “Yes, very fair.”
Jones retired last June after holding the heavyweight title hostage for close to two years, refusing to defend the belt against then-interim champion Tom Aspinall.
Now the undisputed heavyweight champion, Aspinall remains sidelined with a serious eye injury after being poked in both eyes by Gane in their title bout at UFC 321, though did confirm he had finally returned to the gym after four months out at his Matchroom unveiling on Friday.
White confirmed during the announcement that Aspinall remained in his plans and would be set to face the winner of Pereira vs Gane to unify the titles.
“Should he (Alex Pereira) win the fight, then we figure out what’s going on with Tom Aspinall, and it could be him versus Aspinall,” White said.
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