Esteemed MMA journalist Ariel Helwani claims Jon Jones turned down a whopping $30million to struggle Tom Aspinall earlier this yr.
The payday would have been a record-high for a UFC fighter, exceeding Brock Lesnar’s $8m purse for his bout with Mark Hunt in 2016 by $22m.
To place the determine into perspective, the UFC’s highest profession earner, Conor McGregor, is estimated to have pocketed $39.3m in up-front charges through the course of his 14-fight stint with MMA’s premier promotion.
The revelation begs the query as to why Jones would flip down such a lot of cash.
And Helwani thinks he is aware of the reply.
“I feel he [Jones] did not need to struggle him [Aspinall],” Helwani informed the Impaulsive Podcast.
“I feel it was a calculated determination on his half. Why did you drag this out all the best way till June if you knew you were not going to struggle him?
“He gave the UFC a quantity. I consider it is within the $30 million vary for this struggle. And by the best way, I feel he deserves it.
“He did not assume they’d provide you with the quantity, they usually did. I consider Saudi Arabia was concerned.
“The large canines had been concerned. He mentioned sure, after which two days later he mentioned, ‘Nah, on second thought, I am out’.
“I feel he hoped they’d not meet the quantity and he may go, ‘Hey guys, I attempted’.”
How did Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall disintegrate?
The UFC labored tirelessly to get Jones to defend his heavyweight strap towards long-suffering interim title holder Aspinall.
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However after toying with the thought for a number of months, Jones opted to retire from the game in June.
Because of this, Aspinall was elevated to undisputed champion and is now set to defend his crown for the primary time towards Ciryl Gane on October 25 in Abu Dhabi.
Conveniently, Jones has since declared his intentions to return to the Octagon and lately re-entered the drug testing pool.
Jones even put his identify ahead to headline the UFC’s historic White Home card subsequent July.
Nonetheless, UFC president Dana White snubbed Jones’ provide as a result of his lack of reliability.
“It is not about him simply profitable the belt,” White mentioned.
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“You understand how I felt about him. I can not danger placing him in massive positions—in an enormous spot—and have one thing go unsuitable. Particularly the White Home card.”
It stays unclear whether or not Jones will ever return to the UFC.
However, if he does, it appears unlikely it will likely be towards Aspinall.
Jones said on a number of events that he had little interest in preventing Aspinall.
It appears way more believable that he would share the cage with Alex Pereira, whom he had beforehand named as a extra interesting proposition than the Mancunian.