UFC CEO Dana White seemed to pivot on his earlier stance against granting Jon Jones a fight at the White House against Alex Pereira.
Former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones remains optimistic about potentially changing UFC CEO Dana White’s mind and getting a spot on the upcoming White House card.
Jones, who retired last summer amid contract negotiations to fight Tom Aspinall, quickly reversed his retirement when the UFC announced an upcoming event on the White House lawn. White publicly shut down Jones’s desires, saying he ‘can’t count on’ Jones following his abrupt retirement and previous legal issues outside of the Octagon.
White and the UFC matchmakers plan on putting together the June White House card in March/April, giving fighters an adequate amount of time to prepare for their fights. Before Jones won the UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 285, he was the longtime king of the light heavyweight division, defeating the likes of Daniel Cormier, Rampage Jackson, and Lyoto Machida.
If Jones still wants to fight Pereira, White is willing to entertain it, on one condition.
Dana White: Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira would make sense at 205
In a recent interview with Complex, White appeared to open his mind back up to the idea of booking Jones vs. Pereira at the White House.
“At 205? That would be a fight, but can I count on Jon Jones?” White said.
“I can’t have Jon Jones doing something bad or pulling out of the f—– White House fight.”
As of this writing, it remains unclear if Jones would be willing to move back down to 205 lbs to fight Pereira for the UFC light heavyweight title. Pereira reclaimed the belt by knocking out Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 last October.
Pereira remains interested in fighting Jones at heavyweight, as he’s repeatedly teased a move up a division following his return to the light heavyweight throne.