UFC CEO Dana White has clarified why two of the promotion’s biggest stars — Jon Jones and Conor McGregor — will not appear on the upcoming UFC White House event, despite weeks of speculation.

White just unveiled the lineup for ‘UFC Freedom 250,’ a special card scheduled for June 14 on the White House grounds. The show will be headlined by a lightweight title unification bout between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje, while Alex Pereira faces Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight championship in the co-main event. Michael Chandler is also set to compete, but against Mauricio Ruffy rather than McGregor.

After UFC 326, White addressed reporters about the absence of Jones, whose name had repeatedly surfaced as a possible participant.  He said:  “the Jon Jones thing is bulls–t. I’m not saying they weren’t talking to Jon Jones and that Jon Jones wasn’t interested in the fight. What was even crazier was Jon Jones came out and was like, ‘I’m in negotiations right now for the White House card,’ after I had already sent a text to his lawyer saying, ‘Never going to happen ever.’”

White insisted the former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion was never seriously considered for the historic card: “Never, ever, ever — which I told you guys 100,000 times — was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House.” According to White, the decision was influenced in part by Jones’ physical condition:“First of all, I’ve told you why I wouldn’t do it. And No. 2, some guy with Meta glasses on filmed him talking about his hips being so bad. I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, he’s been — doctors say he should have hip replacements. That, on top of all the other reasons that I wouldn’t….” White also confirmed that Jones’ retirement should be considered final.

Jones last fought in late 2024 against Stipe Miocic and later retired, which led to Tom Aspinall being recognized as the UFC’s heavyweight champion. Though Jones briefly re-entered the UFC’s drug-testing pool and publicly pushed to fight on the White House card, White said the promotion had already ruled it out.

Jones later fired back in a series of posts on X before deleting them: “So all of this negotiating was complete bullsh**, is that what you want me to agree to publicly? Make this make sense. If I’m supposed to publicly agree that our negotiations were a lie, we have a problem. I’ll be the fall guy. Sure. If I would prove him wrong, would I be wrong? Or would a bigger man be remaining silent?”

While the door appears closed on Jones, White said discussions with McGregor are still ongoing — just not for this event, “We are definitely talking to Conor,” White said, but admitted the promotion is still far from locking in a return date for the Irish star, who hasn’t fought since July 2021. Asked about a possible timeline, White said the UFC is “not even close” to finalizing McGregor’s next fight.

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