Jon Jones vs. Dana White? Who blinks first?
Should you ask former two-division champion Henry Cejudo, it’s the UFC CEO who finally provides in to Jones’ calls for to battle on the UFC White Home occasion, anticipated to happen in June 2026 forward of America’s 250th Independence Day celebration. Jones, additionally a former two-division champion and arguably the best fighter in UFC historical past, retired this previous June, solely to reverse course shortly after when President Donald Trump introduced his intentions to carry a UFC present on the White Home garden.
White has mentioned it’s a ‘a billion-to-one’ likelihood he books Jones for the occasion, citing Jones’s storied historical past of authorized points and drug-test failures, a number of of which have instantly disrupted the UFC’s plans. However Cejudo thinks it’s solely a matter of time earlier than Jones and White find yourself on the identical web page.
“President Dana White goes to collapse,” Cejudo mentioned on the Pound 4 Pound podcast. “He’s going to offer Jon Jones that chance.
“I perceive Dana White’s level, too, as a result of Jon Jones, he’s a little bit of a wild card. Some shit may occur. Clearly, his authorized document, too, says lots. And I like Jon, however let’s converse the info.”
As of now, the early planning phases for UFC White Home are centered on logistics, price range, safety, and quite a few different sensible issues, so really reserving fighters for the occasion is strictly theoretical. Jones is one in all a number of notable names who’ve thrown their hat within the proverbial ring, with Conor McGregor additionally vowing to be a part of the lineup.
Cejudo and podcast co-host Kamaru Usman agree it’s going to take lots for Jones to get again in White’s good graces, particularly in terms of probably headlining a historic sporting occasion.
Along with Jones’ well-documented outside-of-the-cage points, Usman thinks Jones’ option to retire somewhat than battle Tom Aspinall in a heavyweight championship unification bout regardless of reportedly being supplied a big payday is one more reason White is reluctant to do enterprise with him once more.
“I’d love that for Jon Jones, however Jon, you possibly can’t play with the sport the way in which he’s performed with the sport and anticipate Dana to nonetheless belief you and allow you to again in and do that,” Usman mentioned. “You’ll be able to’t play with the sport like that.
“But when Dana is entertaining that, getting Jon again, I believe this can be a phenomenal one for him.”
“This is able to be the principle occasion,” Cejudo mentioned about Jones probably preventing Aspinall. “USA vs. England, we’re taking this shit again to 1776 and I do imagine that Jon Jones takes out Tom Aspinall throughout the first championship rounds, I actually do imagine that.
“This needs to be the principle occasion. All the pieces else ought to freaking comply with.”
Jones reportedly declined a $30 million supply to battle Aspinall beforehand, an eye-popping quantity that solely served to bolster the argument that he was “ducking” a battle with Aspinall.
Even when Jones can persuade White to take him to the White Home, Cejudo thinks there’s no likelihood that yesterday’s value is similar right this moment.
“That is the place [Jones] f*cked up,” Cejudo mentioned. “In enterprise, you simply can not try this. You can not try this. He’s going to most likely receives a commission half, possibly, I’d say even $10 million, compared to the [$30 million] that they had been really going to offer him in opposition to Tom.”
