“This next fight for me is a personal one,” Jones said during a laughably fake press conference. “But it’s not just for me. It’s for every American who’s ever been bullied, robbed, or deceived. It’s arguably the most important fight of my career. My next opponent will be … the American health care system.”
Reigning UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, promised a “huge announcement” on Thursday, leading fight fans to speculate that “Bones” was (finally) booked to unify the division straps against current interim 265-pound titleholder, Tom Aspinall.
Yeah, no.
Instead, Jones revealed his new partnership with Power to the Patients, a non-profit campaign “fighting for a more honest, affordable, and accessible healthcare system through real prices and transparency,” according to its social media channels.
“While this may not be a traditional fight for me, it’s obvious that too many Americans are being hurt and forced into medical debt or bankruptcy by a Healthcare System so greedy that hospitals and insurers hide their actual prices so they can charge us whatever they want,” Jones, 37, wrote in a statement.
After all, UFC healthcare doesn’t last forever.
“Their ‘estimates’ are bullsh*t and the corporate greed in American healthcare is breaking people and families across the United States,” Jones continued. “I’ve seen it countless times in my own community where I have friends, family, and neighbors who are afraid to even get the care they need because the entire system, without real prices upfront, is dishonest and rigged for corporate profit. Time to hold these healthcare bullies accountable. Power to the people. Power to the Patients.”
Impatient fight fans are unlikely to rally around Jones, no matter how noble the cause, until “Bones” books his Aspinall fight, effectively ending this ongoing critique. The promotion was hoping to secure Jones vs. Aspinall for International Fight Week in July, but nothing is official at this time.