A former UFC champion has two reasons why Jon Jones should be on the White House card.
Despite going on for months on how he is the greatest fighter of all time, UFC CEO Dana White has been very insistent on not letting Jon Jones fight at the UFC’s White House event next June.
The former two-division champion retired earlier this summer, opting not to unify his heavyweight title against then interim titleholder Tom Aspinall, who has since been promoted to the undisputed champion.
Months later, Jones confirmed he’s not retired and voiced his campaign to fight at the White House.
White has given Jones a ‘billion-to-one odds’ that Jones fights on the card.
Daniel Cormier says he might have to disagree with the UFC boss on this one.
- READ MORE: UFC champ baffled Dana White didn’t make blockbuster Jon Jones fight ‘everybody wants to see’
Daniel Cormier says Jon Jones should fight on White House, gets fined $1M if he withdraws
Cormier and Jones haven’t always seen eye-to-eye.
Jones and Cormier hated each other for years and after their rematch in 2017, the legendary Jones called DC his ‘biggest rival and motivator’.
Years removed from their fights and Jones no longer retired like his rival, Cormier says Jones should be allowed to fight at the White House—but there’s a catch.
“Dana seems more stern in not letting him today than I have ever seen him in regards to Jon Jones,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel.
“And if I’m being completely honest, I don’t know that I agree.
“I think I would let him fight,” Cormier said.
“At the end of the day, when we’re fighting at the White House, you want American people that can win. At the end of the night, Noche UFC, last week in San Antonio, had six Mexican-born fighters. They won all six fights. They had three American fighters of Mexican descent and they all won. It felt good for the people leaving the arena that night because the people that they went to support had all found success.
“Imagine if we’re on the White House lawn and the Americans aren’t winning fights. I believe that you gotta let him fight, man.”
If Jones is booked for the White House, Cormier suggests that he be fined $1M should he withdraw, to ensure the UFC can trust him.
“I think that you put some things in his contract that makes it very costly to not follow through,” Cormier said.
“So, if you put Jon Jones on the White House card, say something happens in the law and he has to be pulled off the card, [fine him] a million dollars. Say he just says he doesn’t wanna fight, a million dollars. Say he gets injured, then it should be less as long as the injury can’t be proven. If the injury’s proven, charge him nothing. He’s just a normal fighter that got hurt in training camp.
“But you put these these safeguards in place to make sure that he shows up there because one, you pick a card with him and Conor McGregor, massive eyes will be on that card. And two, you put an American guy in the main event that has a real chance to win the fight and send everyone home feeling very good,” Cormier added.
Conor McGregor and Jon Jones have never shared a card before
Conor McGregor and Jon Jones have crossed paths before, but they have yet to fight on the same night.
McGregor has been the main event for his last 10 UFC fights while Jones has headlined 17 times in a row.
If Jones and McGregor were to fight on the same card, one main event streak would have to end, and it’d likely be Jones as McGregor is the bigger star by far.
McGregor recently announced he would be fighting former Bellator champion Michael Chandler at the White House.