After Rogan spread a story that the UFC was going to pay Jones $30 million to fight, White reached out to correct him.
Joe Rogan is walking back his recent claim that Jon Jones was asking for $30 million to fight Tom Aspinall … and the UFC was going to pay it.
You’d think Rogan would be a pretty decent source of UFC information, given his position as the main commentator for the promotion and a close personal friend of Dana White’s. But after he talked about a potential mega-payday for “Bones” and his words spread across the internet like wildfire, he got a call from White correcting him.
“We were talking about Jon Jones and I had heard a rumor that Jon Jones wanted $30 million to fight Tom Aspinall,” Rogan said on the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. “And I did hear that rumor and I did hear that the UFC said yes. But it is not true, Dana contacted me and said that rumor is bulls**t.”
“So I felt obligated to tell everybody that was a fake rumor. I don’t even remember because we did that podcast two weeks ago, I don’t remember who told me that.”
What’s the new scoop, according to Joe?
“Apparently Jon is thinking about retiring, and he should,” Rogan claimed. “I mean, he’s going to have to some day …I’m not saying he should retire but I’m saying he should think about it.”
“At a certain point in time, you have to decide who the heavyweight champion is,” Joe said. “And if Tom is the interim heavyweight champion and Jon decides he doesn’t wanna fight anymore, he could do that. And he could do that and then come back in a year and fight for the title. He could do that. Like, he could do whatever he wants.”
“But he might decide, you know what? Had an unbelievable career, never lost, except the disqualification loss to a rule that has since been reversed. He’s the GOAT. He retires. He’s got plenty of money. He’s got a opportunity to do some acting.”
Well, that’s a depressing 180 degree turn. Jones has made it clear that the only thing keeping him from fighting is money. If Dana White is telling Joe Rogan he expects Jones to retire, that means they’re not coming to terms over the money.