UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones said if he needs to sit for several years to defend what he thinks is right, it’s something he will be remembered for more than his fight. But he is optimistic that the UFC will finally find him halfway through the negotiations.
Jones has said he would be willing to vacate his belt after talks for a super fight with rookie heavyweight artist Francis Ngannou failed. Jones and fellow UFC superstar Jorge Masvidal are waging social media battles with the UFC and promotion president Dana White to get more money and increase the revenue share among the fighters.
“I’m not asking for anything outrageous, and I know that we’re in a pandemic, and I know that when you’re a billionaire and you’re asking for more, it makes you look like this greedy person,” Jones said on Steve-O’s “Wild Ride” Podcast. “I am very aware of all this, but I am also very aware that I have the voice and the platform to make the change.”
“Most of the guys who are doing the worst are not in the position to be able to say publicly, ‘I have a second job, I’m borrowing money from my parents.'” I know a lot of fighters who live in the Jackson Wink MMA gym because they can’t afford to have their own department, and they are UFC fighters. So this is sad.
“And if I have to have a bad relationship with Dana, sit for two years, three years, to clarify what is happening, then these are the things that people remember you for more than winning belts. I defended the fighters more young boys”. “
While Masvidal said “God willing” that he will fight in 2020 if he gets paid what he feels is worth it, Jones is in no hurry.
“I don’t want to fight soon,” said Jones. “I have no interest in fighting in the UFC until they pay me what I think I’m worth.”
“I think it is really powerful when you stand up for what you think is right. I think eventually the UFC will realize they are stubborn, they will realize they have a special athlete in me and I think they will eventually meet me halfway.” .
White, who described Jones as the best MMA fighter of all time, recently said that Jones can fight whenever he wants. He said Jones and Masvidal signed new contracts last year.
“Being the best of all time doesn’t mean you get $ 30 million. It’s being able to sell,” said White, adding that the UFC showed Jones the recent numbers in his fights. “[Jones] He said: ‘I don’t give a damn what the numbers are. I want what I want. ‘
“This is not how life works.”
Jones said he wished he had a better relationship with White.
“If you’ve come to a place of being personal, I’d rather work for a company where I feel like I went home,” Jones said. “I’m at home when I go to work. I have a great relationship with the UFC staff, but it’s a weird feeling when you feel like they don’t want you there.”
Jones said it would be a good time for any promotion to have him as the face of the franchise. He said he learned from a “humiliating” DWI arrest in March and is excited about a community outreach program he helped organize in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he trains at Jackson Wink MMA.
“I feel good,” he said. “My last DWI has done a lot for me. It freed me in many ways. It embarrassed me. It proved reality. I had never been drunk on camera for the public to see it that way. It was humiliating, and something of a background for me. And I’m ready to get it going. “
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