The UFC overlooked Jon Jones for the White House event. And that’s a fact! Given Jones’ strong camaraderie with head honcho Dana White, where the UFC bossman labeled ‘Bones’ as the best fighter, of course, it seems like an unbelievable story. But it is what it is. While the official reason is yet to be known, Daniel Cormier shares his thoughts on the matter and theorizes about the reason for that move.

‘Bones’ retired from MMA back in June 2025. It came as a surprise, but the reason behind that move was the lack of competitive drive to pursue a heavyweight title unification bout against Tom Aspinall. But as soon as Donald Trump announced the UFC White House event, Jones wanted to come out of retirement just to compete on that card. Surely, it meant a lot for Jones, who at this stage of his career yearned for legacy matchups. And seeing him not get included on the card, Cormier felt bad for the former UFC heavyweight champion.

Cormier on Jones’ UFC White House snub

“Hey, let me tell you something. I gotta say this, bro. I kind of felt bad for him,” said Daniel Cormier on his YouTube channel. “No. I felt bad for Jon because it just seemed like he wanted to fight on that card bad. He seemed crushed. He’s laying in bed, and he’s crushed…

Now at 38-39, he’s got like bad hips and injuries, and looks like he’s on his way out. They’re kind of like, like you said you’re not going to prove value to me in the long term. So I don’t think we need to bend over for you anymore.”

Surely, Jon Jones had severe arthritis issues in his left hip. Despite that, he was motivated and ready to come back. But time and again, the UFC community has seen fighters entering a bout with an existing injury getting defeated brutally. Take the example of Conor McGregor, who entered UFC 264’s fight against Dustin Poirier with multiple stress fractures on his lower left leg, and he ultimately fell short in that bout due to a leg break.

However, the former UFC heavyweight champion also claimed to have been in negotiations with the UFC. And according to the rumors, Alex Pereira was set to be the opponent at the historic event on June 14. But things took a wild turn. Even though ‘Poatan’ still got a place on the UFC White House card, Jones didn’t.

Now, the card for the historic event will be headlined by Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje, with Pereira, Ciryl Gane, Sean O’Malley, and Michael Chandler, among others, fighting in the undercards. Topuria is arguably one of the rising superstars in the UFC roster, and his lightweight title unification bout against Gaethje may have been seen as a safe bet over Jones’ inclusion in the promotion’s eyes.

However, as soon as the official card announcement went live, Jones seemed particularly distressed about missing out. On top of that, he was also bothered by Dana White’s claim that ‘Bones’ was never in contention to feature on the UFC White House event. But insiders like Ariel Helwani back ‘Bones’ in these confusing statements.

The veteran MMA journalist claimed that Jones was actually in negotiations with the UFC. However, due to non-agreement on the payout, the discussions did not end on a positive note. As this buzz went up, even the reigning UFC heavyweight champion sided with Jones. But what exactly did he say?

Tom Aspinall on Jon Jones’ UFC White House negotiations fallout

Jon Jones is arguably a legend in the sport. And in UFC, he was one of the standout fighters who, time and again, delivered dominating performances and ended his MMA career with a record of 28-1-0 (1 NC). And considering those achievements, Tom Aspinall believed UFC could have fulfilled Jones’ demands for the White House card.

“Well, my reaction to that, and this is going to probably be crazy to a lot of people listening, but why is the UFC not giving Jon the respect he deserves financially?” said Aspinall on The Ariel Helwani Show. “That’s crazy to me. If anyone should be getting paid a lot in this sport, it should be Jon Jones for the stuff that he’s done. And that’s me saying that after the history that I’ve had with Jon Jones. If anybody should be getting money in this sport, it’s Jon Jones.”

Ahead of his retirement, Jones was linked to fight Aspinall, and for that, he demanded $30 million. Notably, UFC agreed to that. Despite that, ‘Bones’ pulled out. And for the UFC White House card, the former heavyweight champion demanded nearly half the amount of $30 million.

However, the promotion must have had its reasons to not include Jones on the historic card. That said, do you think the former UFC heavyweight champion deserved to fight at the UFC White House card? Let us know in the comments below!