Jon Jones has no love for Dana White: “I haven’t answered any of his calls”

This weekend, in the main event of UFC 214, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will attempt to reclaim his title from the current champion and his arch rival Daniel Cormier. In the buildup to this fight, much has been made of Jones’ last-minute withdrawal from July 2016’s UFC 200, when he was last scheduled to meet Cormier. UFC President Dana White in particular has had plenty to say about the former champ’s withdrawal from the card. And apparently, Jones is getting tired of it.

Speaking with Lance Pugmire of the LA Times, Jones explained that he is giving the UFC boss the silent treatment.

“Dana White has reached out to me on at least four occasions, and I haven’t answered any of his calls or any of his text messages — that’s the reason we haven’t spoken,” Jones said. 

Jones then explained why he hasn’t been answering White’s calls:

“I just feel like when you’re making the company money and you’re a pay-per-view draw and you’re ultimately putting money in his pocket, then you mean a lot to him,” he said. “The moment you aren’t those things, you mean nothing to him, and he’s done a decent job of showing that. I felt completely abandoned by him … in a situation when I needed him the most.”

“I feel like he’s shown me his true colors, and now I have no desire to pretend like he cares about me or that we’re friends.”

“Unless he has something real pressing to talk to me about, I’d rather just talk to [WME-IMG exec] Ari Emanuel. As of now, I look at Ari as my boss and as Dana as more the face and the voice of UFC.”

What do you think of the apparent beef between Jon Jones and Dana White?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/27/2017.