White recently revealed that Jones spoke with his lawyer, while also asserting that Jones could’ve become the LeBron James of MMA.
“(Jones) had a great talk yesterday with Hunter, my lawyer, who’s really close to Jon Jones and likes him,” White said after UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs. Burns (via Nolan King & John Morgan of MMA Junkie). “They have a good relationship. They had a good talk yesterday. It is what it is. I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less, to be honest with you. They had a good talk. They had a good talk yesterday. Those guys are tight. Jon Jones and I have always had this. I’m always looking at what Jon Jones could’ve been. He could have been the LeBron (James) of this sport. He could have been that big. The stuff that’s he been through, to show up and think he basically (demanded) $15 million, or $20 million, or $30 million, it’s crazy. He can do whatever he wants to do. He can sit out. He can fight. He can do whatever.”
The UFC President stated that Jones wanted “Deontay Wilder” money to fight Ngannou, which is something that Jones has disputed.
Another dispute allegedly broke out between Jones and White’s lawyer when said lawyer tried walking through some numbers with Jones.
“Being the greatest of all-time doesn’t mean you get $30 million,” White said. “Being able to sell (does). Jon Jones has done a lot of things to himself. In one of his tweets, he was saying I tarnished him. I tarnished you? You’ve done a very good job of tarnishing you. I haven’t done that. Hunter told him. You can come in and walk through the numbers. ‘I’ll walk you through the numbers.’ And he says, ‘I don’t give a (expletive) what the numbers are. I want what I want, and that’s it.’ That’s not how life works. Why don’t you guys fly back and tell your boss, ‘(Expletive) what this company makes. This is what I want and you’re going to give it to me.’ See how that (expletive) works out for you.”
It would appear that the situation between the UFC President and the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion won’t be getting better anytime soon.
