UFC CEO Dana White may have set the odds for Jon Jones participating in the proposed July 4 card at the White House at “a billion to one,” during the UFC 319 post-fight press conference, but the former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion sees White’s statement as a door not entirely shut.
“Despite the odds, I’m still training and optimistic about the possibility of being part of the White House event,” Jones wrote in a post on X. “At the end of the day, Dana is the boss and it’s his call whether I compete that night or not. I do know Dana was really excited about the fight, and the door hasn’t been completely closed. That’s all a guy like me really needs. It sounds like another awesome goal to be inspired by. Sometimes in life, we’re not going to reach everything we set out to do and that’s OK. But I like my chances… after all, one in a billion is exactly what it took to end up as Jon ‘Bones’ Jones in the first place.”
After a lengthy period of anticipation that UFC officials would announce a unification fight between Jones and interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, it was announced on June 21 that Jones had retired and relinquished the belt, making Aspinall undisputed champion.
Jones then re-entered the UFC drug testing pool after President Donald Trump said he was interested in a UFC event being held on the White House lawn in celebration of the 250th anniversary of America, a plan which White eventually confirmed they were trying to make into a reality.
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Brian Campbell
Jones has repeatedly expressed interest in participating in the event, and White told the “Full Send Podcast” that Jones vs. Aspinall was the “dream main event” for a White House card.
White changed his tune at the UFC 318 post-event press conference, saying, “I just can’t risk putting him in big positions in a big spot and have something go wrong.”
Jones has a long list of “something going wrong” in his career, including drug test failures and legal issues. In the most recent of those legal issues, he was alleged this year to have fled the scene of a traffic accident and faced a misdemeanor charge for the incident.
Despite his issues outside the cage, Jones is arguably the greatest fighter in UFC history, only losing once in his career, a controversial disqualification loss against Matt Hamill in 2009.
