UFC: Jon Jones says ‘release me from my contract’ after Dana White claims he asked for ‘Deontay Wilder money’
- UFC light heavyweight champ hits back after White says he wants US$30 million to fight Francis Ngannou
- Jones says he’s sure ‘some promoter somewhere will be more than happy’ to pick his contract up
Jon Jones and Dana White continued to put the blame on each other for their failed negotiations as their back-and-forth continued on Friday, with the light heavyweight champion telling the UFC to release him from his contract.
UFC president White doubled down on his claim Jones highballed him when they spoke about a potential move up to heavyweight against contender Francis Ngannou.
“I’ll quote him and what he said to my lawyer,” White told a media scrum in Las Vegas, where the promotion returns to action this weekend. “He told my lawyer he wants what Deontay Wilder was paid [for his last boxing match vs Tyson Fury]. I think it was US$30 million.”
“It’s fun working out in the gym in the morning seeing tweets from Jon Jones saying I’m lying,” White said on Friday. “We have text messages from Jon Jones. It's not like I can't prove what I'm saying is true.
“But I'm not gonna put his text messages out in the press. I could. If Jon Jones wants to sit down and take a lie-detector test about who's lying and who's not, we can do that, too. I don’t wanna go there with this guy. The guy’s made a lot of money. If you look at his track record, show me somebody who has the track record this guy has and has made the money Jon Jones has. It doesn’t happen.”