Dana Reveals Timeline for Jones Return, "Not Even Thinking about McGregor"

UFC CEO Dana White expects heavyweight champion Jon Jones to return in November, roughly one year after he was supposed to defend his 265-pound strap against former division titleholder Stipe Miocic. The 37 year-old ā€œBonesā€ is currently recovering from a devastating pectoral injury and has not competed since steamrolling Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 back in early 2023.

Miocic, 41, has been out of action for more than three years.
Unfortunately, White did not have a definitive timeline for former two-division champion Conor McGregor, who like Jones, was forced to bail on a marquee matchup after getting injured in training. That means opponent Michael Chandler, who seems hellbent on scoring his ā€œred panty night,ā€ will remain sidelined for the foreseeable future ā€” barring any last-minute title fights.

ā€œObviously Jon Jones had a serious injury that he had to have surgery and heā€™s recovering and no secret about it, Iā€™m planning on him fighting in November,ā€ White told UFC on TNT. ā€œAnd then Conor? I donā€™t know when Conorā€™s coming back. When Conor is ready to go, heā€™ll let me know. So, Iā€™m not even thinking about or talking about Conor right now.ā€
McGregor, 36, was expected to make his comeback at UFC 303 last June but stubbed his toe and withdrew from the card. His last appearance came in a leg-breaking loss to Dustin Poirier in summer 2021, though fans did get their ā€œNotoriousā€ fix when McGregor coached against Chandler on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 31 ā€” a season that seems wasted now that its coaches are not competing.

McGregor Forever Forgotten?

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most of danaā€™s energy is promoting two guys who donā€™t ever fight

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This. Itā€™s sort of disgusting that these guys are the face of the organization. Theyā€™re barely fighters.

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I believe it when i see Jones in cage, but i donā€™t think it will be Nov.

Lol Chandler
Captain America Lol GIF by mtv

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I donā€™t understand why Dana is hellbent on making the Stipe fightā€¦Tom or Alex would sell way betterā€¦make him fight one of them or tell him to retireā€¦he has to know nobody gives a fuck a about that fight

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I actually never heard from Stipe he wanted to fight, its just Jones chasing him.

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In my opinion itā€™s because heā€™s afraid of the Aspinall and Pereira fight. Now, Iā€™m not saying heā€™s afraid to fight them because I believe not afraid to fight any human, I say afraid as in heā€™s not certain he can beat them, so heā€™s never gonna fight them. As we all have seen that ā€œperfectā€ record seems to mean everything to him, hence him continually bringing up overturning the Hamill ā€œlossā€. I personally think he beats Stipe, who in general consensus is the greatest HWT in UFC history, and retires on a ā€œhighā€. Then we will get Aspinall v Pereira which all of us real fans are here for. Really only casuals care about Jones and Conor anymore. In my eyes Jones is interim champ and Aspinall is undisputed

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beating miosic now is like Jack Johnson beating a 6-years retired Jim Jeffries. absolutely no racial connotations intended, just highlighting that a current fighter (ish) taking on a massively inactive former great, dragged back onto the mats, is a borderline walkover. fucken cynical work by Jones, despite his own lack of activity.

the ufc isnā€™t boxing, crazy that ufc brass isnā€™t pressuring him to take the Aspinall fight or retire.

itā€™s hard to fathom that heā€™s been a consistent thorn in their side FOR YEARS, but they still want to treat him like their golden ticket. does he really bring in the ppv numbers to justify this treatment? when i ponder that it makes me go cunty-booby, mate.

go matt hamill, whooo!

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woohoooo

Jack Johnson didnā€™t make that fight. White racists wanted someone to beat the black man, so they got Jeffries to come out of retirement.

fair point. but a win in either match is similarly empty, is what Iā€™m getting at.

I know,

It seems like there are only 3 people it the whole world that want this Jones/Stipe fight to go ahead

Dana/Jon/Stipe

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It sounded cool like 5 years ago
Now it is just a painful joke

HW doesnā€™t need it at all

If those guys want to fight someday then just put it on a card sometime and people will watchā€¦but nobody cares anymore

The dirt pile is highter then the trump Tower.

Captain America Lol GIF by mtv

The fact that McGregor pulled out of the fight weeks in advance from an injured toe should tell everyone all they need to know about the future of his fighting career.

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It is pretty weird he wants that loss removed. Every rational fighter knows the official result doesnā€™t always tell the story of the fight, and we all know what happened that night. He knows he beat the shit out of Hamill. It just further displays Jonā€™s narcissism and inability to see his own mistakes, despite his egregious violation of rules.

Jones is gonna Jones.

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