Jon Jones may have had his final fight, although he hasn’t slammed the door shut just yet.
The former two-division UFC champ notified the promotion of his retirement this past June, which promoted Tom Aspinall from interim to undisputed champion. But after the UFC White House card was announced, Jones re-entered the UFC drug-testing pool — and has even been tested once in 2026 — in hopes of competing at that event, possibly against Alex Pereira.
With UFC CEO Dana White shutting that idea down multiple times, and Jones enjoying more of the mentoring side of the sport, Jones laid out his main goals for 2026.
“Oh, man, just a happy guy — that’s it,” Jones told Helen Yee. “And expect Jon Jones to continue to grow as a human being, expect my best, just the way I give back to others and try to impact these younger fighters.
“And I think my best self is on its way, and that’s a person without fighting, and I’m excited to meet this guy, to forge this guy.”
When asked if that meant Jones was announcing his retirement in a follow-up, Jones responded, with a lean more towards calling it a career.
“I think I could be done,” Jones said. “I’m young enough to compete with some of the best fighters in the world, I am healthy enough to compete with some of the best fighters in the world, but I’ve always been used to competing with the best in the world. So I don’t know, that’s a really high standard to uphold.
“So maybe it’s about doing it, doing it right and getting out at a really good time, you know? I don’t want to be one of these fighters that win some and lose some, and can’t remember what your name is. I met a fighter a few years ago, he didn’t what his birthday was, and that’s a lot of fighting. So I’m far from that, and I don’t want to know what that looks like.”
Jones vacated the light heavyweight title in 2020 for a move to heavyweight, and after three years out of action, “Bones” captured the vacant heavyweight title at UFC 285 in March 2023 with a submission win over Ciryl Gane. Since then, Jones has competed one other time, stopping an overmatched Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November 2024. One of the all-time greats, Jones was tied to a unification bout with Aspinall, a fight White guaranteed would happen. It didn’t, and the heavyweight division hasn’t been the same since.
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