Jon Jones has often been ruled out of landing a spot on the UFC: White House card by Dana White, but rumors are now building that he could be involved in a huge fight after all.
Veteran reporter Ariel Helwani ramped up the speculation on his show by stating that Jones could now fight Alex Pereira, just days after the Brazilian ace vacated his light-heavyweight title.
“There have been some talks of that,” Helwani stated on the Ariel Helwani Show. “I think that would be a tremendous White House main event. I don’t know if they ultimately get it done. And I think if they don’t get it done what I’m hearing is they would do Alex vs. Ciryl Gane.“
Now adding further fuel to the fire is comments from Jones this past weekend confirming that he is in talks with the UFC about fighting on the White House card.
”I’m in negotiations with the UFC about this White House thing, as well,” Jones said. “I’m a very, very, very proud American, and I cannot wait to represent one more time. So, we’ll see what happens.”
Both Jones and Pereira have made it known in the past that they are eager to fight each other, and it does feel like this would be a fitting match-up to lead the historic event on June 14th.
If it does happen then the build up to the announcement will have been far from ideal though given that since Dana White has repeatedly stated for months now that Jones wouldn’t be on the card due to having a lack of trust in the controversial star.
The fact that Jones vacated the heavyweight title last year rather than fight Tom Aspinall appeared to be the final straw for White, but his chequered past, which includes multiple run-ins with the law, failed drug tests and being stripped of the 205lb title on three occasions, was also a big factor.
Added to that, the 38-year-old Jones recently let slip that he has serious arthritis in his left hip that had him leaning towards potentially retiring.
Still, the fact remains that Jones has a strong claim to being the greatest ever UFC fighter as a two-time light-heavyweight champion with 11 successful title defenses, along with also having held the heavyweight belt.
And the chance to pair him up against Pereira, a former middleweight and light-heavyweight champion with one of the most fearsome knockout records in the sport, may now prove to good an opportunity for the UFC to overlook given that fans expectations are high for the one-of-a-kind White House show.
