For a man who just retired, Jon Jones sure is talking a lot about fighting again.
Jones announced his retirement on June 22nd, relinquishing the UFC heavyweight title after months of speculation surrounding a potential fight with interim champion Tom Aspinall. But the second U.S. president Donald Trump announced a 4th of July UFC event on the lawn of the White House for 2026, “Bones” said he was back in.
“Fighting at the White House?” he wrote with eyeball emojis. Then 30 minutes later: “Just re-entered the [UFC drug] testing pool, that lasted for about two weeks. Figured we’d keep everyone’s options open.”
That’s led to a whole lot of eye rolling from MMA fans who have watched Jones express complete disinterest in competition and contempt for the clear toughest challenge available to him at the moment, Tom Aspinall.
But actions speak louder than words, and Jon is getting to the action portion of his claims. A new clip from Jones’ Instagram shows the former champ entering a cobwebbed garage gymp alongside training partner Maurice Green and his strength & conditioning coach Jordan Chavez.
Is Jones really serious about a comeback? He’s actually been pretty consistent about what he wanted to do: take as much time off between fights as he wants to, and fight the guys he wants to. That includes names like Alex Pereira, Jamahal Hill, and Derrick Lewis. It does not include Tom Aspinall.
Will the UFC be down to pay what Jones wants for fights that aren’t the most challenging? Jones was willing to give up the belt (again) to get rid of the expectation that he’ll fight the absolute best a few times a year. So long as he’s not bunging up the entire heavyweight division with his hijinx, we say go crazy, old “Bones.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
