Jon Jones says not fighting on the UFC’s White House card is one of the big regrets of his life. He said it in the same conversation where he told The Schmo he thinks he has already walked out of the Octagon for the final time.
The clips hit X over the weekend through Championship Rounds and Dovy, both crediting The Schmo, and MMANews ran with the regret angle Monday. Jones didn’t hedge on the retirement part.
“I really do believe that was my last moment inside the cage,” Jones said, referring to his fight with Stipe Miocic.
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Then he brought up the night that clearly still bugs him.
“There was the White House card… one of the few nights in my career where I was thinking I should’ve been there. That was one of my big regrets in life.”
That’s a strong word from a guy who has spent most of his career looking like he doesn’t lose sleep over much of anything. He followed it with the closest thing to a mission statement you’ll get from him these days: “But if I never fight again, I think I’m pretty damn happy.”
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The rest of his weekend
Jones did the interview while out in Louisiana, where he said a lot of the fans he met greeted him with “It’s Gon’ Be Bad.” His reaction: “I loved it.”
He also landed in the conversation from another direction. Bruce Buffer told Helen Yee that Jones, Conor McGregor and Alex Pereira are the only fighters who deserve to be introduced as the one and only. When the guy who has introduced basically every UFC main event for decades puts you on a three-man list, that list is short for a reason.
None of the sources point to a booking, a negotiation, or anything resembling a comeback plan. What Jones described is a man who believes he’s done, is mostly at peace with it, and still has one specific night he wishes had gone differently.
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Quick take
I’ll take Jones at his word on both counts, because he answered the question straight, which is more than most retired fighters manage. But I’ve been around this sport long enough to notice that “big regret” and “last moment inside the cage” don’t usually sit comfortably in the same interview for long. For now, the most decorated name in the Buffer conversation is happy shaking hands in Louisiana while fans yell his old line at him, and the White House card goes down in the books without him on it.
