Dana White reveals Jon Jones’ apology, remains firm in UFC White House stance

While Jon Jones may have apologized to UFC CEO Dana White, it doesn’t appear he’ll be getting his White House wish.

Jones left the heavyweight division in a lurch with his noncommitment to a title unification bout against Tom Aspinall. Aspinall had been the interim UFC Heavyweight Champion since Nov. 2023, but “Bones” continued to tease both going through with the fight and retiring. White claimed that Jones initially agreed to the fight, but walked it back by retiring.

“Bones” has now decided to continue fighting and he wants a spot on the UFC card at the White House, which is being planned for June 2026. The problem is, White doesn’t feel he can trust Jones in such a spot. Speaking to Zach Gelb of SiriusXM, White revealed that Jones apologized to him and expressed his interest in fighting at the White House (via MMAJunkie).

“It wasn’t a conversation,” White said. “He reached out, he wrote, like a text saying, ‘Listen, sorry how this all played out’ or whatever. ‘I want to fight at the White House – I’m serious about that.'”

While the UFC boss isn’t dismissive of the apology, he still questions the reliability of the future Hall of Famer.

“No, I appreciate it, I appreciate him reaching out and doing that, but I need people I can count on for this fight,” White said. “And I know who they are, I know who they are not.”

White also doesn’t sound like his mistrust in “Bones” solely boils down to how he handled the Aspinall situation. He mentioned past incidents where Jones was set for a big fight only for “something bad” to happen when it’s “crunch time.”

Time will tell if White ultimately changes his mind on featuring Jones on the historic card, but for now, it isn’t looking likely.