Jon Jones desperately wants to compete at the UFC White House card in 2026 but first things first, he might need a sit down with Dana White to clear the air.
For the better part of a year, Jones was attached to a potential fight against Tom Aspinall that was supposed to serve as a heavyweight title unification bout. Nothing was ever solidified and then out of nowhere, the UFC CEO announced that Jones decided to retire from the sport and relinquish the heavyweight title after he claimed a verbal agreement was already in place for the Aspinall fight.
Aspinall was promoted to undisputed champion but then two weeks later, Jones announced plans to fight again with hopes that he could compete at the historic White House card first announced by President Donald Trump. Ever since then, White has scoffed at the idea of putting Jones on the card largely out of trust issues about whether or not he’d actually show up to compete and the former two-division UFC champion admits even though contracts were never signed for the Aspinall fight, he understands where his boss is coming from.
“I think my most immediate goal is to try to be on the White House card,” Jones said about what comes next on the No Scripts podcast. “I’m giving Dana his space. Dana has changed my life. He has changed my life. He’s changed my children’s lives. I’m forever grateful to him.
“We had a verbal agreement that didn’t go over well. Nothing was finalized. But I was wrong. The way things went down, I was wrong.”
Now White has repeatedly stated that he’s not going to start putting together the lineup for the White House card until early 2026 so no decisions have been made yet regarding who might actually end up competing there.
The requests have come far and wide from across the UFC including Conor McGregor, who has repeatedly touted his plans to fight at the White House in his first appearance since suffering a broken leg in a trilogy with Dustin Poirier back in 2021.
For his part, Jones has been pushing for a showdown against current UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira on the White House card with “Poatan” expressing similar interest in booking that fight.
It remains to be seen if the UFC might entertain that idea but Jones hopes to eventually sit down with White to clear the air, which would hopefully mend fences between them.
“I wish I could see him face-to-face and just apologize to him so we can let bygones be bygones and get back to making some major money for the sport and really entertaining these fans,” Jones added.
Despite any differences, White still speaks about Jones with glowing admiration, frequently calling him the greatest of all-time after touting him as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport for several years.
Jones obviously appreciates White’s praises but he also knows he’s gotten on the UFC CEO’s bad side a time or two during his career.
“When he’s feeling me, I think I’m one of his favorite fighters,” Jones said about White. “When he’s not feeling me, I’m probably the reason why he has a bald head.”
With several months remaining until the UFC White House card happens, Jones isn’t giving up on his dream to fight there and an event of that magnitude could give him the perfect sendoff to a Hall of Fame career.
“I hope so,” Jones said about getting his wish to compete at the White House. “I really hope so.”
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