Dana White wouldn’t be upset if Jon Jones decided to retire from MMA.
The UFC president and Jones have been locked in a bitter pay dispute ahead of the former light-heavyweight kings move up in weight.
At this moment the pair still seem to be nowhere near a financial agreement. White is pressing ahead with a heavyweight title bout between the champion, Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis. Jones has rejected the chance to square off against Stipe Miocic and insisted he’s happy to sit out for a while longer.
In an interview with TMZ, White revealed he isn’t opposed to booking Jones at light-heavyweight again but the UFC boss also said he wouldn’t be devastated to see ‘Bones’ walk away from the sport all together.
“That’s up to Jon,” White said. “He could absolutely fight again at 205 pounds. He said he wouldn’t fight Stipe (Miocic), and now Derrick (Lewis) and Francis (Ngannou) are fighting, so we’ll see how that fight plays out. There’s nothing wrong with going out on top either – Jon Jones is undefeated, he’s never been beat.
Jones does technically have one loss on his record which came early in his UFC career against Matt Hammill. The light-heavyweight great was disqualified for throwing illegal elbows at his opponent but White thinks the loss was mainly due to inept officials.
“For those people that don’t know, you see that one loss on his record, he didn’t lose that fight. He won that fight in dominant fashion like most of his fights,” White explained. “It was a time when the Nevada Athletic Commission was at its weakest, and there was a referee that shouldn’t have been in there, and he stole that fight from Jon Jones. So, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for him to go out on top.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)
Do you agree with Dana White? Should Jon Jones consider walking away from MMA?