clock menu more-arrow no yes

Filed under:

Jon Jones on Dana White's main event comments: 'I'm sure he didn't mean it'

New, comments
By MMA Fighting Newswire
/ new
Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Last week, in the midst of the festivities surrounding UFC 205 in New York, UFC president Dana White told Jim Rome at a Sirius XM town hall that he "would never take the risk of headlining a show with Jon Jones again."

The comments came just days after arbitrators handed Jones the worst possible penalty, a one-year suspension, for his failed drug test ahead of UFC 200, and White explained that he simply wouldn't trust Jones to main-event a card until Jones "consistently gets back on track."

The UFC had to scramble back in July when Jones' failed drug test threw its blockbuster UFC 200 card into disarray just days out from the bicentennial event. Left without many options, a women's bantamweight title bout between Amanda Nunes and Miesha Tate ended up headlining UFC 200, while Anderson Silva was tabbed to fight Jones' initial opponent, Daniel Cormier, at the eleventh hour on the event's pay-per-view card.

The situation was just the latest example of Jones' outside-the-cage indiscretions getting in the way of a fighter who may very well be one of the greatest to ever live. But when asked about White's promise to never headline Jones again, the troubled light heavyweight dismissed the idea on Twitter.

"I don't think he thought that through before saying it," Jones said about White to a fan. "I'm sure he didn't mean it."

Jones, 29, is suspended until July 2017 after arbitrators determined that he did not do his due diligence in researching the sexual-performance pill that led to Jones testing positive for two banned substances, the anti-estrogen agents clomiphene and Letrozol, in an out-of-competition drug test prior to UFC 200. The Nevada Athletic Commission are also expected to rule on the matter and could suspend Jones for an additional length of time.

So while Jones may be out of the public eye for awhile, that didn't stop him from weighing-in on a variety of current events in the same impromptu Twitter Q&A that led to his comments about White. Check out Jones' thoughts on McGregor-Alvarez, his return, Michael Bisping's reign as champion, and more below.

Get the latest gear

More From MMA Fighting

Loading comments...