Dana White: 'The fight was done and Jon Jones changed his mind'

According to UFC CEO Dana White, a heavyweight title unification bout between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall was agreed to by both fighters and 'done.' That all changed when Jones phoned the fight promotion on Friday and informed them that he's decided to retire.

"Jon agreed to fight Tom," White said during the UFC 316 Post-Fight Press Conference on June 7. 

"The fight was done. We had the fight done a long time ago," White told The MacLife on Sunday. "Why he decided not to fight, you guys will have to ask him that."

Jones turns 38 next month. He recently stated that he hasn't trained since defeating former two-time heavyweight titleholder Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 last November. Whatever it was that made Jones change his mind, White doesn't think it was about money.

"He was offered what he deserves for that fight," White said. "I think the reality is, whatever changed his mind to fight, I don't know. You'd have to ask him that. He's 38 years-old. I don't know... I don't know the answer to these questions. Only he does.

"We had the fight done. Listen, our job is to make the biggest fights we can make and the fights the fans want to see. That's what we tried to do, but the minute somebody starts talking about retirement, you know my philosophy on that; you should do it," continued White.

"We had the fight done. You saw me talking about it very confidently that this fight was going to happen and then he changed his mind," White explained. "He called us and just started saying, 'You know what, I think I'm done. I want to retire and it's been a great run. I appreciate everything.' And that was it. He was absolutely, positively sure that he wanted to retire."