Dana White has had his fair share of ups and downs with former Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
While the two have enjoyed a fruitful financial relationship due to Jon’s star power, White has had more headaches than he would’ve liked at the expense of Jon’s troubles outside of the cage, which have seen him have run-ins with Johny Law and fail multiple drug tests.
It’s those transgressions that have cause Jones to miss a lot of time away from the cage thanks to multiple suspensions. And since he can’t compete, his legacy can’t improve. According to White, had Jon tried to stay out of trouble, the sky truly was the limit.
“The whole Jon Jones thing drives me crazy,” White told the MMA Roasted podcast via MMA News. “Honestly, Jon Jones — the greatest of all time, the greatest to ever do it — and the thing that’s really frustrating, imagine if this guy tried. Imagine if he tried even a little bit. How incredibly amazing this guy could have been,” added White.
While Jon and White haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, the outspoken president won’t bash his ex-champion’s abilities.
“He could have been the biggest star ever. God knows what he would have finished accomplishing in light heavyweight and then in the heavyweight division, maybe he would have had a title defense [record] at heavyweight that would never been broken. The endorsements, everything that that guy could have been is unbelievable.”
Of course, despite this statement, Jones isn’t finished with his combat career, though it is currently in limbo due to his latest failed drug test.
While on hiatus, his team is confident Jon is only improving his game for his much-anticipated return. If and when he does return — based on the outcome of this — Jones could be moving up to Heavyweight to face former division champion Brock Lesnar.
And who knows, a win over Brock could be enough to earn a championship fight against the winner of this championship bout.