UFC CEO Facing Pressure With Internet Petition Over Champion’s Status

Fans Left to Question Why Dana White Hasn’t Removed Jones as Champ

Since then, Jon Jones has yet to make his second defense of the 265-lb division’s title. Earlier on in his career, he held the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship twice over on a permanent status.

Recently, Jones has put his status as champion at 265 into question on X (formerly known as Twitter.)

“I don’t know if I wanna call it retirement,” Jones tweeted. “I feel like I’ll always have an ability to pop out and show em. I’ve had many breaks throughout my career, [and] my identity out of fighting is well intact.”

Earlier this month, before Jones’ latest exchange on social media, a petition requesting that Dana White remove Jones as UFC Heavyweight Champion was created on Change.org. As of late Friday evening, north of 35,000 visitors to the page on the Website have signed the petition in question.

Petition Outlines What Dana White Should Do

Change.org user Tony_Has_Died began the petition on May 14, gaining traction in recent days. The description of the petition explains the undersigned’s demands succinctly.

“Jon Jones is now the longest reigning UFC heavyweight champion in history and has only fought [two] times in that period,” the petition reads. “There is a clear interim champion, Tom Aspinall, who has defended his interim championship belt. Aspinall is ready to fight Jones. Jones refuses to fight him. Therefore, we as fans must let Dana White know: It is time to strip [Jon] Jones of the heavyweight title. He clearly has no intention of fighting anytime soon.”

Tom Aspinall’s Run as Interim Champion

Tom Aspinall initially claimed the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship by way of first-round knockout (punches) in a minute and nine seconds’ time in November of 2023 in the UFC 295 co-main event. Ironically enough, that night was supposed to have featured the fight for the permanent heavyweight championship between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, postponed after the former was injured.

Subsequent to that victory, Aspinall defended the belt using only a minute of the first-round clock to knock out Curtis Blaydes last July. After the fight, he secured the $50,000 (USD) Performance of the Night Award bonus.

Will This Petition Actually Work?

All of this begs a most-salient question: Does this petition on Change.org have any chance of forcing Dana White to make a change at heavyweight as it relates to the championship?  Let’s begin with this: Online petitions and/or grassroots efforts through cyberspace, depending upon what they’re for, are historically hit-and-miss when it comes to effectiveness.

A social media campaign to revive the canceled television sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine on another network after it had been left off of the fall schedule on FOX  resulted in the NBC Television Network picking up the series for a sixth season. At the same time, petitions advocating for political or social causes can garner millions of signatures in support over the Internet and yet still ultimately end in failure.

Dana White has some thinking to do over the holiday weekend and into the abbreviated workweek beginning on Tuesday. Ultimately, only time will tell if he actually does decide to remove Jon Jones as the permanent heavyweight titleholder.