On June 14, UFC fans will watch one of the biggest American stars, Sean O’Malley, collide against Aiemann Zahabi at the Freedom 250 card. However, many found it quite odd that Jon Jones, who holds the consensus GOAT status, isn’t fighting at the event. Although most fans are aware of ‘Bones’ complicated relationship with Dana White, an insider now suggests that the former 135-lbs king had another edge in securing his spot on the card.

According to Chael Sonnen, Sean O’Malley’s business approach and his relationship with the UFC CEO actually became the differentiating factor that ultimately landed ‘Suga’ a place at the White House event, which will celebrate America’s 250th year of independence.

“I very much believe what he’s saying,” Chael Sonnen said in his YouTube video. “But he didn’t talk to anybody. He got this from a manager who talked to somebody who, by the way, wasn’t the guy. The manager didn’t speak to Dana White. Now we have Dana speaking to somebody who spoke to somebody related to Jon, who related it to the media, who told it to us. I mean, it’s a game of telephone. And this is where those relationships become so important.

“Meanwhile, you get a guy like Sean O’Malley… and he says yes. His phone rings, he says yes. He came out and did an interview, ‘We actually haven’t talked about money yet. There’s 14 weeks. I imagine we will at some point.’ But he was just an honest guy. He was a straight-up guy. And by the way, he directly speaks to the guy. He doesn’t have to play a game of telephone because of the relationship, because of the way he does business. It’s two different approaches.”

To be fair, Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa, recently explained how the deal-making process with the UFC was very complex. On the Anik and Florian Podcast, the First Round Management head revealed that he had been negotiating with the UFC about the White House event, but the talks fell apart because both sides failed to agree on a number. Although Dana White later claimed there were no talks for an agreement, it’s safe to assume that if negotiations did happen, Kawa handled them on Jones’s behalf.

On the other hand, O’Malley recently revealed a completely different approach to doing business. Despite signing with VaynerSports, the former bantamweight champion has maintained a very close relationship with the UFC brass and ended up being just one call away. Very recently, ‘Suga’ even revealed that Hunter Campbell himself reached out with the idea of an Aiemann Zahabi fight for the White House card, which he accepted without much second thought.

So ‘The Bad Guy’ might be right in claiming that Sean O’Malley is very easygoing when it comes to making deals. But when it comes to Jon Jones, the UFC has sometimes described negotiations with him as complicated. For instance, the promotion had to cancel UFC 151 after ‘Bones’ declined to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice, and that remains one of the most notable moments. Also, White seems to still be mad about how the Tom Aspinall fight negotiations went, where White kept publicly pushing for the title unification fight just for Jones to deny it.

Jones later announced his retirement, leaving the heavyweight division in limbo, but later showed his intention to make his Octagon return to face Alex Pereira at the White House Card. Even so, many believe Jon Jones should have been part of the White House event since he remains one of the biggest and most accomplished stars in the sport. At least ‘Bones’s bitter rival certainly thinks so.

Daniel Cormier feels bad for Jon Jones

Although many believe that Dana White was justified in snubbing Jon Jones from the White House card because of years of difficult negotiations, it is also true that ‘Bones’ has been a major money maker for the promotion. How? Well, his 16 title fights have all been spectacles in terms of revenue, regardless of the controversies attached to them.

Despite that legacy, Jones’ bitter rival Daniel Cormier admitted that he found it sad when Dana White and Co. ruled him out because of a recurring hip injury.

“I think this is kind of like a come-to-Jesus moment,” ‘DC’ said during the Funky and Champ podcast with Ben Askren. “At 28, 29, no matter what you did, when he got that event cancelled with Chael, they said, ‘You’ll never headline again.’ But he was selling PPVs, so you had to go back to him.

“But at 38, 39, he’s got bad hips and injuries, and it looks like he’s on his way out. They’re kind of like, ‘You’re not going to prove value for me in the long term, so I don’t think we need to bend over for you anymore.’ It’s crazy,” he added.

Honestly, Dana White mentioned Jones’ hip injury as one of the reasons for leaving him out of the Freedom 250 event. However, ‘Bones’ didn’t dismiss suffering from severe arthritis, but he also revealed that he is still capable of fighting. What’s the truth? We don’t know, but the situation is definitely complex.

That said, what do you think about Jon Jones not being part of the White House card? Let us know in the comments section below.