During UFC 316 fight week, MMA fans and media worldwide eagerly awaited Dana White’s comments on the long-brewing Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall situation. Yet, to everyone’s surprise, the UFC president skipped the pre-fight press conference altogether. The silence only heightened anticipation, until he finally addressed the issue at the post-fight presser.

One of the many anticipated questions around the fight was the ‘Strip Jones’ petition that took the world by storm and has over  200k signatures. The fans showed their ultimate frustration, but the head honcho found it extremely silly. He shrugged it away by stating at the presser, “Every human on Earth was DM’ing it to me. How many fans are there worldwide now?  What’s the number? Like 400 million and 130,000 people want to see him stripped. It’s kind of f— silly.” 

Jon Jones mocks the strip petition by comparing it with the world’s population 

At the very least, Dana White tried to play it safe when comparing numbers and reactions from UFC fans around the world. But the heavyweight champ wasn’t holding back. Jon Jones took it up a notch by directly comparing the 200,000 petition signatures to the 8 billion people on Earth. He posted a simple message on X: “200,000/8,000,000,000.” It left many scratching their heads at first, so much so that one curious fan even asked X’s AI chatbot, Grok, for an explanation

In a rather long text, Grok explained Jon’s post, ‘200,000/8,000,000,000 ☺️’ likely refers to a petition with around 200,000 signatures to strip him of his UFC heavyweight title, compared to the world’s 8 billion population. The ratio and smiley face suggest he’s dismissing the petition’s significance.”

That was definitely a solid explanation. However, with both Dana White and the heavyweight champ showing zero concern over the petition, it’s hard to tell just how much sway frustrated fans will have. While the numbers behind the petition keep growing, it’s still unclear whether it’ll have any real impact on the UFC’s decision regarding the unification fight.

The head honcho did give fans a bit of good news, saying, “Yeah, I’ve been saying it since the beginning. Jon Jones agreed to do the fight. Jon Jones was offered the deal and accepted the deal.” So, there’s at least a small ray of hope for fight fans. Still, Dana also took a moment to reflect on how unpredictable it can be when dealing with the top stars of his company.

White finds it hard to deal with artists like Jon Jones and Anderson Silva

Dana White is the most prominent personality who has grown this sport with his passion. Because of that, he’s also been part of countless deals and negotiations. It’s easy to understand that it’s not always a smooth ride for him business-wise. But the UFC boss admits that dealing with top guys like Jon Jones and Anderson Silva can be interesting at times.

The head honcho, during the UFC 316 press conference, said, “It is definitely the process with Jon Jones. I’ve been going through this since the day he started here; it’s definitely the process. Him and Anderson Silva, every time through the history of being in business with those guys, when the time comes to try and get them to fight, it’s like dealing with artists, it’s interesting!”

Well, White saying “interesting” could easily be interpreted as code for how tough it is to deal with fighters once they’re at the top and have leverage in negotiations. He’s said more than once that Jon Jones is a hard man to do business with. As for Anderson Silva, there isn’t as much out in the open. 

It’s been pretty clear that the UFC has faced some challenges trying to crack a deal with the heavyweight kingpin. Still, it’ll be interesting to see if the promotion can pull off the fight against Aspinall, especially with all the hype building around it.