Jon Jones has a regret, and it has a street address. The former UFC two-division champion told The Schmo that missing UFC Freedom 250 on the White House South Lawn in June is one of the few things in his career he wishes had gone differently. DAZN also picked up the story, running it as the biggest regret of his UFC career.
“There was the White House card,” Jones said. “That was one of the few nights in my career where I just was thinking, ‘I should have been there.’ I usually don’t regret decisions, but that was one of my big regrets in life: not being a part of the White House. But if I never fight again, I think I’m pretty damn happy.”
That last sentence is the part worth circling. Jones isn’t announcing a retirement, but he’s talking like a man who already cleaned out his locker.
The road to the regret was a long one. Jones hasn’t fought since November 2024, when he stopped Stipe Miocic by TKO in the UFC 309 main event at a sold-out Madison Square Garden. That fight had already been pushed back a year by a pectoral injury, and plenty of people argued the UFC should have kept the heavyweight division moving without him. After Miocic, a unification bout with then-interim champion Tom Aspinall never came together. Neither did a spot on the White House card.
Jones said he is content with how that Miocic night played out. He pointed out that his brother was still alive at the time and his father was in the building. “I got to tell the world that I love Jesus, and that will never change. I got to salute our President,” he said, adding, “So honestly, I don’t think it gets much better than that.”
He also had kind words for the man he beat. “Stipe Miocic was considered the greatest heavyweight of all time. You know, we’re both older, but to defeat him, I don’t really see how it can get bigger than that.”
Where Jones Is Now
These days Jones is in the corner instead of the cage. He’s been working with Gable Steveson, the Olympic gold medalist who got knocked out in 12 seconds by Sean Sharaf at UFC 331 as a -2400 favorite. Jones told The Schmo that Steveson is back in training and that the team needs to add a lot more sparring.
He’s also paying close attention to the division he left behind. Ciryl Gane, whom Jones submitted with a guillotine in under three minutes at UFC 285 in 2023, is now the undisputed heavyweight champion after Aspinall vacated. Gane defends against Jackson Wink product Josh Hokit (10-0) at UFC 334, and Jones said Hokit very well could win.
Hokit, for the record, was one of the guys who made the White House card memorable, knocking out Derrick Lewis on the South Lawn. That same night Justin Gaethje handed Ilia Topuria the first loss of his career in the main event.
So Jones watched a card that delivered a heavyweight knockout and one of the biggest upsets of the year from the outside. I’d regret that too. Give the man credit for saying it plainly instead of hiding behind a vague answer about timing and business. Fighters who answer the question straight are rarer than they should be. The next time his name comes up on fight week, it’ll probably be in someone else’s corner at UFC 334.
