UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones seemed to take pleasure in Dana White’s stance concerning the petition pushing for his title to be revoked.
Since his defense of the heavyweight championship against Stipe Miocic in late 2024 (who is now retired), Jones has avoided a potential fight with Tom Aspinall. This situation exists despite the British fighter holding the division’s interim title since November 2023 and successfully defending it.
Jones’ hesitation to engage in a title unification bout has generated significant anger and discontent within the MMA community. This sentiment even resulted in a widely circulated fan petition, gathering over 188,000 signatures, that implores the UFC to strip ‘Bones’ of his championship.
White finally addressed the petition regarding Jones during the UFC 316 post-fight press conference. His comments were likely not the response the petition`s originator had hoped for.
“Every person on Earth was sending me DMs about it [the petition],” White stated. He continued, “How many fans are there worldwide now, what’s the number? About 400 million, and 130,000 individuals want to see him stripped. It’s frankly quite absurd.”
Jon Jones Appeared Amused by Dana White`s Comments on the Petition
In the months following his knockout victory over Miocic – which marks his only defense of the heavyweight belt in the two years he has held it – ‘Bones’ has maintained a prominent presence on social media.
The fighter hailing from Rochester has not avoided interacting with fans who critique his current position and potential retirement plans. He frequently posts remarks targeting both his critics and Aspinall.
Following a series of posts several days prior, Jones returned to X (formerly Twitter) with a brief reaction to White’s viewpoint on the widely supported petition.
The Rochester native took his comparison further than White’s estimation of the UFC’s global fanbase. Instead, he compared the signature count to the entire human population of Earth.
He posted simply, “200,000/8,000,000,000.”
Dana White Did Not Completely Dismiss the Possibility of Jones Fighting Tom Aspinall
The most recent updates regarding the heavyweight title situation have not been encouraging for those still hoping to see Jones and Aspinall compete in the Octagon.
After Jones’ recent series of social media posts included further suggestions of retirement, the interim titleholder publicly stated that he is serious when he says ‘Bones’ has made up his mind about his future.
Despite this, White did not entirely rule out the possibility of the matchup occurring during his UFC 316 press conference.
Furthermore, the UFC CEO even surprised many by claiming that ‘Bones’ had already given his agreement to the fight.
However, White did seem surprised to hear Jones’ assertion that he would be perfectly fine with relinquishing the heavyweight title and retiring from the sport.
Currently, the heavyweight division remains in a state of inactivity due to the presence of two titles held by two different champions, with no upcoming fight scheduled between them.
Rupert Hartwell