Jon Jones is only a couple of weeks removed from vacating the UFC heavyweight title and retiring, but it seems the 37-year-old might have already had second thoughts about it.
“Just re-entered the testing pool, that lasted for about two weeks,” Jones wrote on X. “Figured we’d keep everyone’s options open.”
It’s also worth noting that just before that post, Jones had also reacted to the unexpected announcement from President Trump that there are plans in the works to have a UFC fight on the grounds of the White House next year.
“Fighting at the White House?” Jones wrote alongside a wide-eyed emoji.
It’s not clear whether the two separate posts do have a connection, but it certainly increases the odds that Jones could still make a comeback at some stage in the future.
President Trump attended Jones one and only heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in New York last year, where the champion celebrated his win by doing ‘the Trump dance’ in the Octagon, before going over to speak to him personally.
Some fans are already wondering whether this is just a way for Jones to stay in the news-cycle though, having long since grown weary of the long-running saga of Jones’ will-he, won’t he title fight against Tom Aspinall, or against Francis Ngannou years before that, both of which never materialized.
Added to that, while Jones past achievements in the sport make him an obvious candidate to be considered for such a high-profile, historic event, on the other hand his extremely chequered past, including frequent run-ins with the law, steroid and cocaine use, and being stripped of the 205lb title multiple times could result in him being a political hot potato that both the White House and the UFC might want to steer clear of.
We live in weird and wacky times though, so at this stage anything’s possible.
