Dana White knows who he can count on for the biggest event in promotional history.
Earlier this year, White and United States President Donald Trump announced that next summer, the UFC will host an event on the White House lawn, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding. While the event is still almost a year away, it figures to be one of the biggest in UFC history, with fighters lining up to compete at it. Chief among those who wish to do so are arguably the two biggest fighters in the sport right now, Conor McGregor and Jon Jones.
After the initial UFC White House announcement, both McGregor and Jones noted their interest in competing at the event, with Jones even ending his short-lived retirement. Unfortunately for Jones, White quickly put the kibosh on his bid, saying he can’t trust Jones to headline a card of that magnitude, and the UFC CEO isn’t changing his tune.
“He’s not the guy that when crap hits the fan, he’s not the guy like, ‘Whatever, I’ll fight whoever,’” White told Jim Rome on Thursday. “He’s one of the guys I put on the list who has had some not-so-bright people around him that made decisions for him, and he listened to them at that time in his career. Fight fell out, the only fight we’ve ever canceled in the history of the company.”
Widely considered to be one of the greatest fighters of all time, Jones has also been difficult to promote at times. Jones infamously failed a drug test ahead of UFC 200, forcing him out of his planned rematch with Daniel Cormier just days before the event. Just two years later, the promotion then had to relocate UFC 232 on short notice to California after an issue with a Jones drug test in Las Vegas. And most famously, Jones refused to fight Chael Sonnen on a week’s notice at UFC 151 after Dan Henderson withdrew from the fight, causing the UFC to cancel the entire event.
At one point these incidents had White say Jones would never headline an event again, though that ultimately proved not to be true. But for an event on par with UFC White House, White isn’t ready to take that chance.
“I’m never worried about Jones not being clean for performance-enhancing drugs. I’m not worried about that,” White said. “My thing about Jon Jones is, in the crunch time — bad things always happen leading up to fights, and all this stuff — can I count on Jon Jones? That’s my thing. …
“I back that up with, I do believe he’s the greatest of all-time. And when you deal with the greats like him … it’s almost like these guys are artists, of a sort. And any time you deal with artists, nutty stuff happens. It’s part of the business. But I like consistency. I like guys who — who do you want to be in a foxhole with? Those are my kind of guys.”
In contrast, White has absolute faith that he can trust Conor McGregor.
McGregor has not fought since his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier in 2021, and even withdrew from his planned return bout last summer after suffering a toe injury. Nevertheless, given his track record with McGregor, White trusts him to headline UFC White House, assuming he’s actually interested.
“Yeah. We’ll see how this thing plays out,” White said. “I’ll start making this card in February. So if it all plays out that way, Conor can be on that card.
“It’s not my love of Conor. It’s my respect of Conor. … Here’s the thing about Conor: I know more than everybody else knows, a lot of people talk smack publicly. I’ve been behind the scenes when this guy’s opponent fell out for this big fight, it messes fighters up. Then their team gets involved and they start trying to strategically — I’ve seen the most horrible stuff happen behind the scenes. Jon Jones, Holly Holm, and I could go on and on forever, where they have a team that surrounds them that makes incredibly horrible decisions for them.
“Conor McGregor, he wakes up, comes downstairs into the kitchen and finds out what happens, he says, ‘I’m going to the gym. Call me later and let me know who I’m fighting.’ Almost nobody does that. I’ve seen the real stuff that goes on behind the scenes with Conor. Everybody can put whatever they want, ‘Oh, he loves Conor! Conor makes him money!’ All this other stupid crap I hear. … Conor McGregor has been that guy throughout his entire career.”
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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
This man is still carrying on.
How dare you ask boxing questions at a boxing press conference?!
This is how you goad someone into fighting you.
“I concur” made me giggle.
It’s finally here. I’ll be real, Noche UFC is a pretty weak card, but if you look at it like the prelims for Canelo-Crawford, then it bangs. I’m excited for the weekend. Enjoy and see y’all on Monday.
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