Jon Jones breaks silence after Dana White doubts his UFC White House spot

While he had previously shown little interest in unifying the title against Aspinall, Jones made it clear after retiring that he would be open to facing whoever held the belt by then.

There has not been any confirmation from Dana White yet, but Jones is still holding out hope.

“Despite the odds, I’m still training and optimistic about the possibility of being part of the White House event.

“At the end of the day, Dana is the boss and it’s his call whether I compete that night or not.

“I do know Dana was really excited about the fight, and the door hasn’t been completely closed. That’s all a guy like me really needs. It sounds like another awesome goal to be inspired by. Sometimes in life, we’re not going to reach everything we set out to do and that’s okay.

“But I like my chances… after all, one in a billion is exactly what it took to end up as Jon ‘Bones’ Jones in the first place,” Jones wrote on X.

Jon Jones reportedly turned down $30 million to fight Tom Aspinall

There is a good chance the UFC leadership were not pleased with Jones after he chose not to face interim champion Tom Aspinall.

During Jones’ time as champion, Aspinall held the interim belt for nearly 600 days. Rather than unify the titles, Jones chose to defend his title against Stipe Miocic.

Though he could have walked away after that November title defence, Jones stayed on until June as talks with the UFC dragged on.

MMA journalist Ariel Helwani told Impaulsive that Jones had been offered $30 million to fight Aspinall, initially accepted, but then pulled out of the deal just days later.