Dana White blasts ‘bulls**t’ Jon Jones purse demand for Tom Aspinall fight after Joe Rogan spreads ‘fake’ UFC news
DANA WHITE blasted Jon Jones’ rumoured demands to face Tom Aspinall in a conversation with UFC commentator Joe Rogan.
Former pound-for-pound king Jones demanded “f**k you money” to unify the heavweight titles against his interim counterpart after defending his belt against Stipe Miocic last November.
Rogan recently claimed that he’d heard a rumour that Jones was asking for a whopping £24MILLION ($30m) to throw down with the burly Brit.
But he was quickly told what’s what in a frank conversation with his good pal and UFC supremo White.
During a recent episode of his podcast, he said: “I have to correct something because there was a conversation I had with Yannis Pappas and Chris Distefano.
“We were talking about Jon Jones. I heard a rumor that Jon Jones wanted $30 million to fight Tom Aspinall.
“I did hear that rumor and I did hear that the UFC said yes, but it is not true.
“Dana contacted me, said that rumor is bulls**t.
“So I felt obligated to tell everybody that was a fake rumor… [But] I don’t remember who told me that.”
White revealed late last year that negotiations over a mammoth unification fight between Jones and Aspinall are underway.
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And the veteran promoter is confident of delivering the bout MMA fans around the world are itching to see.
The 55-year-old said: “[Jon Jones] has never said behind the scenes, ‘I won’t fight Tom Aspinall.’ It’s the exact opposite.”
“Jon Jones is like 37 [or] 38 years old now, has these huge gaps in between fights, he is not afraid to fight Tom Aspinall.”
“He will fight Tom Aspinall and it will be the biggest fight in UFC history.”
Even if they meet Jones’ financial demands, the UFC brass could still face an uphill task to convince the hall of Famer to take the fight.
During the UFC 309 post-fight press conference, Jones said of Aspinall: “He’s annoying to me.
“He’s annoying to me and that’s my own personal – he annoys me.
“I get it you guys find it entertaining, but I find him annoying.
“I just don’t like him and at the end of the day, if I give him the opportunity to fight me, I want to be so compensated.
“I want to say it, I want that ‘f**k you’ money, honestly. That’s just what it is.
“Or else my life is perfect without him.
“I don’t need him at all and he needs me and that’s a good place to be in a negotiation.”