Jones to White: 'Go ahead and release me from my UFC contract'
Warning: Story contains coarse language
Jon Jones continued to trade shots with UFC president Dana White on Friday, as the longtime light heavyweight champion dared the promotion to release him from his contract.
On Thursday night, Jones said White lied about the 32-year-old wanting "an absurd amount of money" to fight top heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou.
White responded to the 205-pound titleholder Friday afternoon, saying that Jones asked for "what (former world boxing champion) Deontay Wilder was paid. ... I think it was $30 million."
"We have text messages from Jon Jones," White told reporters, according to MMA Fighting. "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."
Jones again refuted White's claim in a series of tweets Friday, asking the UFC president to release the aforementioned text messages.
Don’t be a fucking liar, my reputation has already taking enough hits. I don’t need this bullshit Dana. I never asked for Diante Wilder‘s numbers. And how about since Diante is making 30 million, we settle for half of that. Since you said I’m the goat and everything.
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 29, 2020
I don’t even make half of half of what Diante Wilder makes. If my reputation causes you to undervalue me this much. Just go ahead and release me from my @Ufc contract altogether. I’m sure some promoter somewhere will be more than happy to pick me up.
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 29, 2020
Do I make 5+ per fight yes. Should I stick to that number for my super fights? No. If you don’t agree with me you just don’t know business. I certainly didn’t ask for 30, never even threw out a number.
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 29, 2020
White said Friday that he considers Jones to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time.
Jones and Ngannou expressed interest in fighting each other earlier in May. Jones, the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, has talked about moving up to heavyweight for years.
"Bones" is coming off a narrow win over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in February.