Jon Jones‘s retirement was somewhat unceremonious as Dana White suddenly dropped the news after UFC Baku. It left a lot of fans needing at least one more fight from the former two-weight champion, since they were waiting for that title unification bout. Jones seemingly left a bad taste in fans’ mouths, but former UFC fighter-turned-analyst Dan Hardy has a different take on the whole retirement saga.
The 27-1 UFC legend has fought generations of the greatest fighters within the confines of the Octagon since he made his debut. From 2008 to 2024, except for an unfortunate DQ loss for using a 12-6 elbow move, which has now become legal, Jon Jones remained at the top of the food chain when it came to MMA. So, before people try to point their fingers at him for supposedly ‘ducking’ Tom Aspinall, Dan Hardy urged fans to give ‘Bones’ the credit he’s due.
“Looking in from a fan from the outside, the aftertaste of his retirement is that he didn’t wanna fight Tom Aspinall. And I think it’s unfortunate because I don’t want it to undermine everything else that he had achieved, because he was, [and] he is such a great fighter,” Dan Hardy told Submission Radio. The veteran who brought up the possibility of Jones’s sudden retirement news, believing that maybe Dana White might have had something to do with it.
As we all know, the UFC’s current US media rights deal with ESPN is coming to an end when 2025 comes to a close. As such, Dana White and Co. were looking to land a new deal worth around $1 billion. For the promotion to secure such a huge deal, they need legitimate stars, and that’s what the UFC lacks. We may have Alex Pereira and others making waves at the moment, but the two true superstars, who don’t look like they want to fight anymore, are Conor McGregor and, of course, Jon Jones. Dan Hardy believes that securing the $1 billion deal may have made the CEO hold on to Jones.
“I wonder if things would have been different if the UFC was in a different point of negotiations with their rights. Because you look at where they’re at right now and their PPV draws. Even if they moved away from the PPV model, you’ve still got those standout stars,” Dan Hardy added.
“I would say a couple of them obviously have fallen away recently, and the ones that they kind of seem to be clinging on to a little bit, one of them being Jon Jones [and] the other one is kind of Conor McGregor. You don’t expect to see him fight, either. But I think both of those names play into the negotiation rights and the strength of the UFC product moving forward. So, I think that’s played a lot into this as well.”
LAS VEGAS, NV – March 5: Jon Jones at T-Mobile Arena for UFC 285 -Jones vs Gane : Event on March 5, 2023 in Las Vegas, NV, United States.Photo by Louis Grasse/PxImages Louis Grasse / SPP PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxBRAxMEX Copyright: xLouisxGrassex/xSPPx SPP_157509
But that’s not it, though. Dan Hardy also highlighted an important point about Jon Jones. Since he’s talked about retirement before, the ex-UFC fighter believes Dana White played a role in keeping him from hanging up his gloves. Let’s take a look at that front.
Jon Jones may have retired earlier if not for Dana White
As we all know, nobody beats Jon Jones’ drums more than Dana White himself. While constantly calling him the greatest of all time on various media platforms, the UFC CEO would always advocate for ‘Bones’ even when the 55-year-old gets trolled online. The way he treats Jones could only be matched with the way White treats Conor McGregor. So maybe the former 2-weight champion had to return the favor.
Given that the UFC is desperately seeking to land a billion-dollar media rights deal, Dan Hardy believes Jones might have retired after his last fight against Stipe Miocic. After all, ‘Bones’ first dropped the retirement tease after he won the world title at UFC 285, and this led Hardy to claim that maybe the media rights deal situation “probably put Jon Jones in an awkward predicament where maybe he did want to retire earlier.”
Well, Jon Jones‘ retirement did allow Tom Aspinall to fulfil his lifelong dream of becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion in the UFC. The former champion appeared a bit emotional when he shared a message after his retirement, as we wait to see what lies ahead for him in the future. Nevertheless, let us know your thoughts on Dan Hardy’s theory regarding Jon Jones’s retirement in the comments down below.
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