Jones praises UFC White House legacy after Dana White shut him out of the card

Jon Jones has offered a generous assessment of the UFC White House event on June 14, even after UFC president Dana White confirmed the former champion was “never, ever, ever” under consideration to appear on the card.

Jones had announced his retirement in June 2025 before quickly reversing that decision when President Donald Trump unveiled plans for the White House show. His bid to compete on the card was firmly rejected by White, yet Jones says he bears no resentment and is proud of what the event represented for mixed martial arts.

“I absolutely loved it,” Jones told Red Corner MMA. “It really showed me — it humbled me and it just showed me that our sport is at a prestigious level right now. When I first started MMA, we weren’t allowed to compete in New York State. People looked at it as being taboo, a very weird thing to do. Now, it’s a very honorable sport to be a part of. Probably one of the most honorable sports to be a part of right now in history.”

“I’m grateful to be considered one of the best in the sport’s history. It makes me feel a lot more important since the White House card.”

The event was headlined by Justin Gaethje’s dramatic knockout of Ilia Topuria, which unified the interim and undisputed lightweight titles and handed Topuria the first defeat of his career. Topuria also suffered facial fractures in both orbital bones, leaving his return timeline uncertain.

Jones, who turns 39 in a matter of weeks, drew a parallel between Topuria’s rapid rise and his own well-documented struggles outside the cage — which have included arrests for a hit-and-run, a DWI, and a domestic violence incident. Jones holds just one official defeat on his record, a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill in a fight he was otherwise controlling.

“When you become a UFC champion, you become more famous right away,” Jones said. “You get invited to dinner, there’s the girls and there’s the money and there’s all these new friends. There’s just so much that gets thrown at you and if you’re not grounded enough, if you don’t have a strong enough circle and team, it’s easy to get distracted.”

“I have fallen victim to all of the things that a young athlete can. The partying, getting in trouble, all of it. But in my situation I had a team that always held me to a high standard and they never allowed me to get discouraged by my downfalls and they just always encouraged me to just keep moving forward.”

Jones said he fully expects Topuria to recover and praised the Georgian-Spanish fighter for his response to the defeat. Topuria wrote on social media: “No excuses. I had one of the best camps of my life. I came in sharp, prepared, and ready. Last night was your night. That’s the nature of this game. Glory and pain walk side by side.”