Dana White had a lot to talk about in her interview after the UFC 318 fight, after Max Holloway successfully defended her “BMF” title and Dustin Poirier retired, but The biggest surprise came when the conversation focused on Jon Jones.
The former heavyweight champion Jones retired recently, but changed his mind within a week After President Trump revealed that a unique UFC event was being prepared on the land of the White House in Washington DC
Since then, Jones has confirmed that his decision to return to the UFC anti -doping control program It was only due to his desire to fight in that event, but White has now ruled out that possibility.
“You know what I think of him,” said Dana White about Jones when asked about her participation in the White House event. «I can't risk putting it in an important positionin a prominent place, and something goes wrong. Especially on the White House billboard ».
Interestingly, this seems to be a change of opinion by White, since only one week ago he said in the Full Send podcast than Jon Jones against Tom Aspinall was his “dream fight” for the White House event.
However, White's new position is totally understandable for a series of reasons. On the one hand, Jones has hinted in great fights in the past on the heavyweight, such as fighting Francis Ngannou and Tom Aspinall, only for Do not carry them out when the moment of truth came.
However, it is likely that White is also remembering previous blockbuster fights in which Jones participated and that have collapsed dramatically over the years. Among them is the infamous event UFC 151 of 2012, which White has described as one of his worst moments after the show had to cancel completely When Jones's opponent, Dan Henderson, was injured and “bones” refused to fight Chael Sonnen in so little in advance.
There was also the UFC 187 incident in 2015, where Jones's fight with Anthony Johnson was canceled after the champion became the object of a police investigation for fleeing the scene of an incident of outrage and escape that left a pregnant woman in the hospital, which earned her the loss of the semi -domplement title and the suspension.
Surprisingly, Jones was about to completely derail one of the greatest events of all time, the UFC 200 of 2016when positive in an anti -doping control a few days before his revenge for the title with Daniel Cormier, which caused the cancellation of the fight.
Although the rematch with Cormier would be held a year later, with Jones winning by KO, It would be stripped of the title and suspended after positive in another anti -doping control after the fight. And even today, Jones remains a ballast, to the point that, 24 hours after his withdrawal last month, it was learned that is being investigated by another run over with a leakage that took place in February.
With that history, it is clear why White would not want Jones close to what is expected to be An UFC event: unusually media, historical and political loading house next year.
