Jon Jones Leaves Management Team Amid Stalled Ngannou Talks
Jon Jones has taken the bold step of splitting from First Round Management who have overseen his career since 2010.
On Monday evening, Jones retweeted a post from the management company who announced that their working relationship with ‘Bones’ had come to an amicable end.
“After an 11 year journey as @JonnyBones management team, First Round Management and Bones have amicably decided to part ways. We are proud of him and the work we’ve done. We wish him the best going forward,” First Round Management posted on social media.
Jones has been at odds with the UFC for more than a year now.
The former light-heavyweight king is bulking up for a move to heavyweight but has been unable to come to terms on a financial deal for his divisional debut.
Last week, Jones appeared confused when Dana White claimed that he was seeking a million payday in order to take on the UFC’s heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou. Jones questioned if somebody else had been speaking on his behalf during the ongoing negotiations for his heavyweight debut.
“I never discussed wanting 30 million with you or Hunter @danawhite just wondering where you heard that number? Is someone speaking with you on my behalf or…”
The CEO of First Round Management, Malki Kawa, took to social media to react to the departure of Jones and dispel rumours that the pound-for-pound number one fighter was leaving because of the company’s failure to secure a deal for his heavyweight move.
“Sometimes it’s best to just walk away,” Kawa wrote. “Glad to have repped the p4p best fighter in @jonnybones for the last 11years. No this had nothing to do with his Ngannou negotiations. Jon has been handling that negotiation on his own and has been as he wanted to speak for himself when it came to the last few fights, so no, sorry fans, you can’t blame me. We all agreed it was just best to start over. @abraham and I are working on a lot of major things at #frm and sometimes you just have to know when to say when.”
Do you think Jon Jones has made the right move by leaving First Round Management?
