Dana White’s Stunning Statement on Jon Jones

UFC boss Dana White made a stunning statement Saturday regarding Jon Jones, his status in the market-leading MMA firm, and his recent rival Tom Aspinall.

The statement brings to an end an ongoing saga regarding Jones and a prospective fight with Aspinall, the interim champion who has beaten everybody he’s ever faced in UFC. Since leaving the light heavyweight division and moving to heavyweight, Jones only fought twice, and has seemingly refused to meet Aspinall in the Octagon. Now, he’s retired forever, according to White.

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Dana White’s Stunning Statement About Jon Jones

The UFC icon is retired forever, White said

“Jon Jones called us last night and retired,” White told reporters at the UFC on ABC 8 post-fight news conference.

White recently set a two-week deadline to book the protracted fight between Jones and Aspinall, which appeared like a potential main event for International Fight Week this month. With Jones dragging his feet, though, this was pushed to later in the year, with a headline bout in New York City for November possible.

Jon Jones & Tom Aspinall’s professional MMA records (as of 21/06/25)
	Jon Jones	Tom Aspinall
Fights	30	18
Wins	28	15
Losses	1	3
No contests	1	0

Instead of fighting Aspinall, though, Jones seemingly preferred to retire forever. After receiving the phone call from the former two-weight UFC champ, the company moved quickly to promote Aspinall, who is now the official heavyweight champion, the UFC boss said.

“Jon Jones is officially retired. Tom Aspinall is the heavyweight champion of the UFC.”

Jones retires as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, with a clear legacy as the sport’s best light heavyweight, thanks to wins over Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira, and Daniel Cormier.

His reign at the highest echelons of fighting, though, was marred by positive drug tests, and legal trouble out of the Octagon. His stint at heavyweight was also questionable as, though he won the title by defeating Ciryl Gane, and his only other fight was luring Stipe Miocic out of inactivity. Miocic, at the time he fought Jones, had no wins over the current top-10 heavyweights. It’s perhaps a stain that he never faced Aspinall.

As for Aspinall, he is now the UFC’s heavyweight champion. And the third champion from Britain, after Michael Bisping and Leon Edwards. The first defense of his championship belt could come against Gane.

Watch Dana White announce Jon Jones’s retirement right here: