A few days ago, Jon Jones revealed in a room full of people that he was in positive negotiations with the UFC to star at the White House. But when the promotion unveiled the card during the UFC 326 broadcast, ‘Bones’ name wasn’t there. Absolutely livid over the snub, the former champ went on a full-blown rant against Dana White, which also received unexpected support from Ariel Helwani.

At the UFC 326 post-fight presser, the UFC CEO told the media that Jon Jones was never actually in negotiations to star at the White House event, directly contradicting what the former champion had told fans. A disappointed ‘Bones’ responded to White’s claims through a series of deleted posts on X, insisting that negotiations were indeed in place. As the dispute escalated, Ariel Helwani entered the conversation and backed Jones’ claims.

“In since deleted tweets, Jon Jones responds to the narrative that he was never in the running to fight on the White House card,” the prominent MMA journalist posted on X. “FWIW, Jones is 100% right. They did talk. They did negotiate. They just didn’t close the deal. Not sure why Dana said otherwise yesterday. (Well, I guess I do know. Why would you wanna admit – when everyone is poopooing a card – that you couldn’t agree to terms with a massive name like Jones…..).”

To be fair, Dana White has shown reluctance toward Jon Jones’s White House participation since last year. Despite ‘Bones’ repeated attempts, the UFC head honcho didn’t budge and eventually left him off the marquee event. Well, the reason behind the fallout is anyone’s guess, but much of the blame has been placed on how their relationship soured after the Tom Aspinall fight couldn’t be made.

However, while White claimed there were no negotiations, he did reveal at the UFC 326 post-fight presser that the UFC brass had spoken to ‘Bones’ at some point. Now, were those talks related to the White House event? We don’t know, and that might actually be the breaking point for the former champion, who later posted a disappointed rant on social media.

That said, while there could be many reasons behind Dana White’s snubbing of Jon Jones from the White House card, he also revealed a surprising one.

Dana White reveals a surprising reason for not including Jon Jones on the White House card

Recently, Jones publicly admitted that he’s suffering from severe arthritis and could go under the doctor’s knife at any point. With a compromised hip, it could be tough for Jones to fight at any event. So, Dana White brought up the same point to further justify canceling the arguably greatest fighter of all time from the Freedom 250 card.

“First of all, I told you why I wouldn’t do it, and second, some dude filmed him talking about his hips and that his hips are so bad,” White said during the UFC 326 presser. “I don’t know if you saw that flag football game where he could barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have hip replacements. So add that to all the other reasons why I wouldn’t.”

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When it comes to Jones’ hip problems, it has to be accepted that putting him at the UFC White House event could’ve been a risk. If he compromised it even more, there could’ve been a chance of a stellar fight falling apart beforehand. But as it seems to be one of the reasons behind White and Jones’ fallout, more details around this story remain to be seen.

That said, what do you think about the souring relationship between Jon Jones and Dana White? Let us know in the comments section below.