After months of hemming and hawing about facing Tom Aspinall and defending his Heavyweight tile, Jones dropped the bout and announced his official retirement last month. That retirement only ended up lasting about 13 days, as “Bones” decided to jump back into the testing pool (if not competition) after hearing about plans for a UFC event at the White House on July 4, 2026. He’s expressed interest in facing whoever is the Heavyweight champion next July, Aspinall or otherwise.
Per Jones, the White House event was a game changer, a chance to do something new and special after a long career of achievements. However, there may be a slight snag: Jon Jones has a pretty extensive criminal record. It’s not old history, either, as Jones is currently facing multiple charges in Albuquerque for his latest vehicular incident.
Could this affect his ability to compete at the UFC White House event? A fan at the UFC 318 Q&A event recently asked UFC analyst and former Jon Jones foe, Daniel Cormier, nearly leaving “DC” speechless. After recovering his wits, Cormier didn’t seem to certain one way or another, though he offered one note of optimism.
“That’s actually a good question,” Cormier admitted. “Well, we always have to pass background checks when Trump is there anyway, and he got to fight.”
Realistically, Jones has already fought and danced for President Donald Trump. Who knows whether he’ll even be cageside when the event rolls around? It’s probably a non-issue, assuming of course that Jones’ current case doesn’t go catastrophically wrong in the next 12 months.
As of right now, it feels reasonably likely that “Bones” will compete next July.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
