Jon Jones Has No Interest In Pretending To Be Friends With Dana White
It’s pretty clear by now that former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and UFC President Dana White are no longer on speaking terms. The former UFC champion made that known during a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times while promoting UFC 214. Jones flat out told Lance Pugmire that the decision to not speak to each other was his own.
“Dana White has reached out to me on at least four occasions, and I haven’t answered any of his calls or any of his text messages – that’s the reason we haven’t spoken,” Jones told the LA Times.
The UFC President mentioned earlier this week on ESPN that the two had not talked to each other since Jones failed his drug test at UFC 200 last July. White went on record by saying that he is cool with Jones right now but that would change if another similar incident occurred.
On the flip side, Jones suggests that greed is the ultimate reason for him going radio silent when dealing with the UFC President.
“I just feel like when you’re making the company money and you’re a pay-per-view draw, and you’re ultimately putting money in his pocket, then you mean a lot to him. The moment you aren’t those things, you mean nothing to him, and he’s done a decent job of showing that. I felt completely abandoned by him … in a situation when I needed him the most.”
“I feel like he’s shown me his true colors, and now I have no desire to pretend like he cares about me or that we’re friends.”
Jones also stated in the interview that he sees Ari Emanuel as his boss and that Dana is more of a figurehead for the UFC.
Jones is scheduled to fight Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 this Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
