‘You Can’t Make the Guy Fight’- Dana White Opens Up on Jon Jones Situation

Published 05/15/2021, 12:09 PM EDT

Former UFC light heavyweight fighter and current heavyweight Jon Jones is presently at loggerheads with president Dana White and other officials. The altercation has seen either party targeting each other over various social media platforms and interviews.

However, one fact is undisputable- Jones is one of the best ever to grace the octagon. This is something which even White acknowledges.

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Recently, White appeared for an interview and shared his opinion on Jones’ issue. He also talked about other greats of the game. “So Jon Jones thing is like, people will say Jon Jones is the GOAT, no Anderson Silva, GSP, it’s Khabib,” White said.

“I say it all the time, no matter what’s going on with me and Jon. Jon Jones is the best ever. There are guys like Usman, nipping it in the heels, obviously, Khabib was too before he retired.”

The boss then talked about Jones not wanting to fight in heavyweight. “But Jon Jones is under contract, he has a contract. We have tried to work with him and see if there are things we can do to make him fight,” he added.

“But if he doesn’t wanna fight heavyweight, he doesn’t want to. And at the end of the day, what can you do? You can’t make the guy fight.”

The boss further clarified that Derrick Lewis is the number one contender and will be fighting for the heavyweight gold against Francis Ngannou.

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Why Dana White and Jon Jones have issues?

Jones (20-1) has clarified that he will return to the ring only if he is paid enough. He is vocal on this issue ever since Ngannou beat Miocic for the title at UFC 260.

Jones also didn’t like the fact that White took a dig at him after the event by asking him to choose Israel Adesanya instead. In between, UFC offered Jones a sum of $8 million – $10million to fight, which the former light heavyweight deemed too low.

I had a brief phone meeting with UFC‘s lawyer Hunter a few days ago. As of right now I expressed to him that anywhere around eight to $10 million would be way too low for a fight of this magnitude. That’s all that has been discussed so far.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) March 31, 2021

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The fighter had dropped his light heavyweight title just to compete in the higher division last year to add more to his legacy. The altercation, though, is only putting a question mark on his legacy.

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It will be interesting to see how UFC goes about the issue. For the fans though, it’s about watching a once-a-lifetime clash between Jones and Ngannou.

Who will Jones face as his opponent next?

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Written by:

Akshyay Mahapatra is a UFC author for EssentiallySports. He wished to combine his passion for the UFC (that he has been following since 2008) as well as his love for writing. This motivated him to enter the world of combat sports journalism.

‘You Can’t Make the Guy Fight’- Dana White Opens Up on Jon Jones Situation

Why Dana White and Jon Jones have issues?

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