Following Jon Jones‘ retirement, the former heavyweight champ doubled down on his claim that the UFC was made aware of his retirement plans back in November. After previously telling fans in late May that the promotion had known about his plans for months, Jones shed light on the negotiations in a series of posts on social media, revealing that behind the scenes, the UFC brass was urging him to reconsider retirement.
While speaking with members of the press following Saturday’s UFC 317 card, Dana White refuted Jones’ claim.
“It’s not true. I’m telling you the truth, believe who you want to believe.”
You can see White’s comments in the video below, beginning after the question at the 16-minute mark.
Although Jones has remained adamant that he told the UFC of his plans to retire after his win over Stipe Miocic, Dana White on the other hand repeatedly expressed optimism surrounding a title unification bout between Jones and Tom Aspinall in recent months.
While speaking to members of the press following the UFC 316 card in early June, White was left stunned when he was informed Jones had been tweeting about relinquishing the belt.
At the time, he indicated that after he and Hunter Campbell got back to Las Vegas, they would sit down in the war room and, “figure this out.”
Instead, on Jun. 21, after the UFC Fight Night; Baku card, Dana White revealed Jones had called him the night before and retired.
Jon Jones Deletes Tweet Regarding Negotiations For Tom Aspinall Fight
As we previously reported, following his retirement, Jon Jones indicated via social media that the UFC told him “1000 times” to reconsider.
While Jones’ tweet about the UFC urging him to reconsider, and his post doubling down on previous claims that the UFC knew about his retirement plans back in November, are still up, the former champ deleted another tweet where he shed further light on the situation.
In it, Jones opened up on negotiations, indicating that although he and the UFC discussed a title unification bout, no deal was ever finalized.
While the former pound for pound kingpin wound up deleting the tweet, MMAFighting’s Damon Martin was able to grab a screenshot:
“If the fight was done, trust me, I would be fighting. Did we start negotiating at one point yes, but [it] was never done. My job at the time was to sit back and be quiet about it and that’s exactly what I did. I was enjoying my life that should’ve been obvious to you guys.”
Jon Jones Seemingly Claps Back at Demetrious Johnson & Ariel Helwani
On Friday, former flyweight kingpin Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson made an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show.
At one point, Johnson and Helwani discussed Jones’ recent retirement, with the pair agreeing that Jones’ long history of PED infractions disqualify him from the GOAT debate.
As Johnson argued, MMA is the only sport where someone with PED violations can be considered the GOAT.
Just hours later, after clips from the episode began to circulate online, Jones seemed to clap back via social media. Although he didn’t mention either of the two by name, the post included a direct shot at Helwani, referencing his ban from UFC events.
“Some of these podcasts think the MMA fan base is stupid. You throw the right words around like steroids or failed drug tests, and expect no one to actually do their homework. It’s really an insult to the listener, the drug testing agencies, the Ufc, the Commission. No wonder why certain reporters aren’t even allowed to step foot into a UFC event.”
So far, Helwani hasn’t responded, however, the longtime insider could clap back during a live show this week.
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