Esther Lin
I remember that time when UFC President Dana White was all pissed off and clomping around his Las Vegas office talking about never again putting Jon Jones in a UFC main event, and we all laughed like, “Okay grumpy boi” — because we knew it was bullshit.
Fast-forward to 2020 and Jones is atop the UFC 247 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which takes place this Sat. night (Feb. 8) inside Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. And not only is “Bones” the headlining act, he’s now a bona fide “star.”
“We just broke the record at the Toyota Center for this fight, so yeah, Jones is as star,” White told MMA Junkie. “We did $3.2 million (at the gate), still a couple of hundred tickets to move and we’re opening up some productions kills right now, so it will be well over $3.2 million. And yeah, we’ll have the record.”
Life is good for White and Co. now that Jones is firing on all cylinders. The embattled light heavyweight champion spent a good portion of his combat sports career mired in personal and professional fuck ups, but appears to have (finally) turned the corner.
“The truth is that – and you’ve seen it in every sport – too rich, too famous, too young, and when that happens to you, there are consequences to it,” White continued. “Some people can deal with it, some can’t, but then you eventually get to a point that you hopefully get yourself under control and you start to take it seriously and get you shit together. Usually, by the time you do that, it’s too late and your (athletic) window has closed and it’s over. But that’s not the case for Jon Jones.”
I guess we’ll know for sure when the curtain drops on UFC 247. Despite his reign atop the 205-pound division, Jones still has to get through undefeated division contender, Dominick Reyes, in the five-round headliner this weekend in “The Lone Star State.”
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 247 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+/Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
For the rest of the UFC 247 fight card and line up click here.