Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
It just might be a long long time before fans see ‘Bones’ back in the Octagon, unless he and the UFC can come to terms.
Just a couple weeks ago it sounded like Dana White might be offering Jon Jones an olive branch. Or at the very least, like he was prepared to find a functional middle ground to get the long-time UFC light heavyweight champion back in the Octagon in the not-too-distant future.
“Jon Jones and I do not agree on something right now. We’re having a disagreement, but Jon Jones is a partner in this business,” White told Eddie Hearn and Tony Bellew on their Talk the Talk podcast.
Unfortunately, if White was hoping that his words would be the entry point to smoothing things over between he and ‘Bones,’ that doesn’t appear to be the case. Speaking recently to Jackass celebrity Steve-O on the stunt-comedy performer’s Wild Ride! podcast, Jones made it clear that he’s not about to walk back his demands and return to the Octagon.
“I don’t want to fight soon,” Jones said. “I have no interest in fighting in the UFC until I get paid what I believe I’m worth.”
“If I have to have a bad relationship with Dana, sit out for two years, three years, to bring light to what’s happening, then these are the things people remember you for more than winning belts. I stood for the younger fighters.”
Jones added that he knows of multiple current UFC fighters living in the Jackson-Wink gym, “because they can’t afford to have their own apartment.” Adding that while no want’s to hear from the rich guy who wants to make more money, he believes that – as one of the wealthier fighters in MMA – he possesses “the voice and the platform to make change.”
Just what exactly that change might look like is hard to say. But, past estimates have fighters currently earning somewhere around just 20% of the promotion’s total revenue intake. And beyond PPV & TV deals, fighter pay becomes especially notable in terms of things like image rights and merchandising. Rising UFC star Sean O’Malley recently told Brendan Schaub on an episode of the former fighter’s Food Truck Diaries podcast that he’d received just $3,000 of the estimated $1 million that he claims the UFC’s outfitting partner, Reebok, has made selling merchandise branded with O’Malley’s name and likeness.
Whether Jones’ actions end up just being a fight to raise the bar for what the sport’s biggest stars can earn from fighting, or whether he can swing this into a full blown movement to improve UFC payouts for athletes up and down the roster remains to be seen. But it appears for now that he’s willing to take the time to see some kind of change get made.