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Jon Jones Says He's Relinquishing UFC Title, Wants Israel Adesanya Fight in 2021
May 31, 2020
Jon Jones is no longer interested in being the UFC light heavyweight champion.
The superstar fighter announced Sunday on Twitter that he was relinquishing his title and wanted a fight with Israel Adesanya:
Those remarks come after a week of Jones and UFC President Dana White clashing through the media during negotiations for a potential fight between Jones and Francis Ngannou.
White said Jones was asking for an "absurd amount of money" to participate in that fight, requesting the type of money boxer Deontay Wilder receives, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN. Jones responded on Twitter by calling White a "f--king liar" and adding that his "reputation has already [taken] enough hits."
White responded by saying Jones has tarnished his reputation all on his own, ostensibly referring to Jones' legal issues over the years.
"He can do whatever he wants. He wants to sit out, fight, he can do whatever," he said. "He can say whatever he wants publicly. It's his God-given right in America. He can say whatever he wants. When he's ready to come back, he can. In one of his tweets, he said I tarnished his name. I tarnished you? You've done a very good job of tarnishing you."
Jones clapped back at those remarks as well:
Sunday's tweet might indicate that Jones has moved on from negotiating a fight with heavyweight Ngannou and is instead now focusing on middleweight champion Adesanya. Or perhaps it's all a negotiating ploy. Regardless, it's very clear Jones and White aren't remotely on the same page at this point.