Jon Jones insists he never agreed to fight Tom Aspinall, despite what his old boss says.
Earlier this month, UFC CEO Dana White claimed that a heavyweight unification bout was ‘done’ before the greatest fighter of all time changed his mind.
Jon Jones is now retired, and Tom Aspinall has become the undisputed heavyweight champion.
‘Bones’ appears to be content with his retirement decision, but he wants to clear one thing up.
Jon Jones denies agreeing to fight Tom Aspinall
On Friday, Jones interacted with fans during an impromptu Q&A session on X.
The 37-year-old claimed that he initially retired following his win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 last November.
However, Jones delayed announcing his decision for seven months after he was begged to reconsider.
“I was told 1000 times to just reconsider and just give it more time. That’s the truth,” he tweeted.
One fan followed up by asking why Dana White claimed that a fight with Aspinall was ‘done’.
“If the fight was done, trust me, I would be fighting,” Jones replied.
“Did we start negotiating at one point, yes, but [it] was never done.
“My job at the time was to sit back and be quiet about it and that’s exactly what I did.
“I was enjoying my life that should’ve been obvious to you guys.”
Jones quickly deleted the reply from his feed and continued to interact with fans.
The American icon even praised White as a ‘genius’ in a follow-up post about Power Slap.
Dana White doesn’t disagree with Jon Jones retiring
White detailed the call that ended with Jones retiring during a recent chat with Bloody Elbow’s Donagh Corby.
After spending months trying to convince the MMA superstar to stick around, White insisted he had no hard feelings after Jones decided to call time on his combat sports career.
“He called us and just started saying, ‘You know what, I think I’m done, I want to retire, it’s been a great run and I appreciate everything,’” White said. “That was it, and he was absolutely positively sure that he wanted to retire.
“We said, ‘Why don’t you sleep on it, and when you wake up in the morning, if that’s how you still feel then…’” Asked if he felt the call was emotional, White didn’t give a firm answer, but added: “Yeah, I think you never know what Jon Jones is dealing with.
“Then you wake up the next day and [he’s facing legal issues], so who knows? We don’t know everything that went into this decision.
“It’s something you’re going to have to ask him if you ever see him again, but I don’t know the answer to these questions. All I know is that he made it very clear that he wanted to retire, and I don’t disagree with him.”