One of the most drawn-out sagas in combat sports history finally came to a close on Saturday with the announcement that Jon Jones has retired from MMA.
After more than eighteen months of speculation about a possible title unification fight between UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) and interim titleholder Tom Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC), the situation was finally resolved when UFC President Dana White revealed at the UFC Baku post-fight press conference that Jones had decided to retire.
Speaking at the Canelo vs. Crawford news conference in New York on Sunday, White said he is still unsure exactly why Jones made the decision to walk away.
“He called us and just started saying ‘you know what, I think I’m done, I want to retire. It’s been a great run, I appreciate everything’ and that was it,” White told reporters during a media scrum. “He was absolutely, positively sure that he wanted to retire and we said why don’t you sleep on it, if you wake up in the morning if that’s how you still feel.”
Fans have long speculated that Jones was scared of facing the younger, faster Aspinall at this stage of his career, but White isn’t certain that’s behind the champion’s move.
“Who knows. I don’t know everything that went into this decision. It’s something you guys are going to have to ask him if you ever see him again … all I know is he made it very clear that he wanted to retire and I don’t disagree with him.”
White had promised UFC fans on numerous occasions that he would “100%” get the fight between Jones and Aspinall booked. While most fans and pundits had their doubts, White insists that Jones had initially accepted the offer to fight, only to change his mind at the last second.
“We had the fight done. You saw me talking about it very confidently that this fight was going to happen and he changed his mind.”
