The 38-year-old Jon Jones was in attendance at Mike Perry’s Bare Knuckle Syndicate 4 event in Nashville this weekend, where he confirmed he wants to fight at the UFC: White House event in June of next year.

“That is my goal,” Jones confirmed to Jenny Savage at the DBX4 event when asked about competing at the one-of-a-kind show on the lawn of the White House. “It’s been my goal for a very long time, but Dana’s the boss, he’s a genius business man and leader, and I really hope he gives me the opportunity. I would be so honored.”

So far Dana White hasn’t given any indication that he’s willing to budge on his initial claim that he couldn’t trust Jones enough to book him for the high-profile event, describing his odds as, “a billion to one.”

The final straw for White appears to have been the fact that Jones opted to vacate the heavyweight title and retire rather than fight Tom Aspinall earlier this year.

Of course there’s far more to the story than that however as Jones had also previously been stripped for his former UFC light-heavyweight title on no less than three occasions over the years due to repeated troubles with the law and failed drug tests.

However, the former two-division champion is still regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all-time, and with White having previously stated that he won’t start booking fights for the White House event until February next year, Jones will be hoping there’s still time left for him to change the UFC CEO’s mind.