Getty UFC President Dana White offered a reality check to Jon Jones.
UFC president Dana White offered some “reality” to Jon Jones in a recent interview. The UFC boss claimed “it doesn’t matter” what Jones is planning to do, and he implied the UFC was going to continue to play hardball with the UFC superstar over how much more money Jones believes he deserves to move up to the heavyweight ranks.
“Jon Jones is under contract,” White said on “The Jake Asman Show” per MMAJunkie. “He has a contract. We have tried to work with him and see if there are things we can do to make him want to fight at heavyweight. But if he doesn’t want to fight at heavyweight, he doesn’t want to at the end of the day. What are you going to do? You can’t make the guy fight. The reality is Derrick Lewis is really the No. 1 contender for the heavyweight championship right now. It doesn’t matter if Jon Jones wants to fight or doesn’t want to fight.”
So the ongoing saga over Jones wanting to be paid more for moving up into the heavyweight ranks than the UFC is willing to pay him appears to be on its way to continuing for the foreseeable future.
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White Claims Miocic Gets Winner of Ngannou vs. Lewis 2
It appears White is indeed moving forward with his plan of making Francis Ngannou vs. Derrick Lewis happen next for Ngannou’s UFC heavyweight crown.
After that fight, the heavyweight champ would then be paired against former champ Stipe Miocic.
White’s reality check for Jones is that he’s not in the UFC’s plans at all right now, and White made it clear in the interview that it’s because of Jones.
“Well, Jon Jones made it very clear that he has no interest in fighting Stipe, so it doesn’t really matter,” White said. “What you do is you do the fight with Derrick Lewis and Francis and then Stipe gets the winner.”
Moreover, Jones remains under contract with the UFC, so the longtime pound-for-pound king can either accept the company’s terms or continue to sit out on the sidelines.
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Jones Nixed Idea of Facing Miocic
White had suggested earlier in the week that Jones could face Miocic for the right to face the winner of the yet-to-be-announced rematch between Ngannou vs. Lewis.
Jones is considered by most pundits to be the best light heavyweight in MMA history. Miocic is considered by those same observers to be the most accomplished UFC heavyweight champion ever, and that’s the case even after he got knocked into orbit by Ngannou in his last fight.
But Jones made it clear in since-deleted social media posts that he doesn’t plan on facing Miocic next.
He posted, “Don’t get excited people, I’m not fighting Stipe.”
He explained, “I’m not here to fight Stipe but I will defend my belt against him no problem. I’m looking for the biggest draw and I’m willing to wait. 33 years old [I’m a] better athlete right now than I’ve ever been before… [I’m] just going to keep training my a** off”.
He continued, “I’m sick of hearing the same s***, you’re not a big enough star, you don’t bring in enough [PPVs]. I’m ready to fight fights that will bring in the pay-per-view. The world wants to see some black on black crime right now and I’m ready to give it to them”.
Upon hearing that news, White seems to have shifted away from playing matchmaker for Jones.
In fact, he appears to be ready to move on from the whole thing altogether.
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Dana White’s Reality Check to Jon Jones: ‘It Doesn’t Matter’