UFC 316: Dana White post-fight interview
UFC CEO Dana White spoke to MMA Junkie and reporters at the UFC 316 post-fight press conference and talked the top storylines from Saturday’s event.
NEWARK, N.J. – It’s been weeks since Dana White has stepped onto the stage for an official UFC press conference. Saturday, he did that for the first time since April 26.
While there were many important storylines from Saturday’s UFC 316 at Prudential Center, the heavyweight title picture, or its lack of clarity, still dominates the mixed martial arts world’s conversations.
What’s the status of Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall? Well, White said what’s been thrown onto social media, mostly by Jones, is inaccurate.
“He said he’s ready to vacate the belt? F*cking crazy,” White told reporters including MMA Junkie. “I’ve been busy. I haven’t been keeping up with the gossip. He’s either back today or came back yesterday or whenever. He was in Thailand. He’s home. We’ll be home tonight. Tuesday, we’ll figure this out.”
White has long maintained the claim that the fight will happen, something he reiterated again and again Saturday. He also put forth a claim that many following the social media saga might be surprised by. According to White, Jones agreed to fight Aspinall, but has not yet signed paperwork.
“Jon Jones agreed to do the fight,” White said. “Jon Jones was offered the deal and accepted the deal.”
With that, it’s not exactly clear what the holdup on the heavyweight unification bout is. White was unwilling to even entertain the idea of an alternative, involving Francis Ngannou or otherwise.
“It’s Aspinall’s fight,” White said. “I mean, we’ve been talking to this kid forever about it. It’s his fight. Listen, you can’t make people fight. If Jon doesn’t want to fight, we can’t make him fight. We can try to make him fight. We can throw things at him that want to inspire him to fight. We’ll figure it out. … I don’t have Ngannou under contract and Aspinall is the guy.”
Would the UFC entertain a potential Ngannou return? Ngannou’s coach Eric Nicksick recently told Home of Fight that his fight would be open to discussing a reunion. Is that feeling mutual?
“Eh, probably not,” White said.
And as for the petition started by fans to strip Jones of his heavyweight title? White laughed it off – and the joking suggestion that he himself was one of the 187,000+ signatures to date.
“Every human on Earth was DMing it to me. I saw it. … How many fans are there worldwide? What’s the number? It’s 400 million or something like that? 130,000 people want to see him stripped. I’m not saying that, it’s just kind of f*cking silly.”
