Dana White had lost his patience with Jon Jones and was venting to Lorenzo Fertitta.
It was May 24, 2014, and the UFC wanted to book a rematch between Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, who seven months earlier had pushed the then-light heavyweight champ to his very limit at UFC 165.
The holdup, according to White, was that Jones wanted to fight Daniel Cormier next instead of Gustafsson, and negotiations on a contract extension had snagged on that detail. Jones wouldnât sign.
âWhatâs up with Jones? Did he straighten up or is he still being a scumbag?â White texted then-UFC Chairman Fertitta in a message recently unsealed as part of the UFC antitrust lawsuit. (Reps for Jones and the UFC did not respond to a request for comment.)
âStill a douche, but weâre inching closer,â Fertitta responded. âHavenât moved on money, but sent the letter with an ultimatum.â
âAwesome,â White responded. âF that punk, Lorenzo. He needs to know we donât need him, or he will f** us over more than he already does.â****
Jonesâ relationship with the UFC had already endured some rocky moments, none bigger than his decision not to take a short-notice title defense against Chael Sonnen at UFC 151. White had publicly blasted Jones and his coaching staff, infamously declaring in a press release, âUFC 151 will be remembered as the event Jon Jones and Greg Jackson murdered.â But in the octagon, Jones had returned to form, dominating Glover Teixeira at UFC 172.
With five fights left on Jonesâ contract, White and Fertittaâs mission was to lock up the champion for more time. In doing so, they unknowingly provided a window into negotiating tactics that are now at the center of a court fight over whether they broke the law by locking fighters into long-term contracts, keeping competitors from being able to compete in the market for elite MMA fighters. The plaintiffs to the UFC antitrust suit claim such contracts were part of an illegal scheme to depress fighter salaries and seek damages from the UFC that could total over $1 billion. The case is expected to go to trial in April.
Hahahaha - hilarious
Dis Gonna B Good SC
So pretty much what everyone on the UG says?
Whilst the ufc likes to have the best fighters in the world fighting for them, they dont need them.
Fedor is the glaringly obvious example.
Its the same for any business, dont think youâre bigger than the company. You will soon be replaced and forgotten about. Especially if youâre a piece of shit person.
Whilst i concede that jones is probably the goat cage fighter, he was taken to the wire by gustaffason, santos and reyes.
Yet he walks around like it was utter dominance his whole career, it wasnt.
Is anyone really surprised at their behind-the-scenes attitude towards a repeat-offender, druggie, steroid-user whoâs been caught multiple times publicly not only being a scumbag, but cheating and being responsible for the UFC losing tons of money having to cancel an entire event?
True but he never got beat down. I will give him that. Someone like Fedor for example got knocked around a decent amount in some of his wins. Jones never really did, just had a couple close decisions.
Iâm a huge Fedor fan. I think Jones could pass him in the GOAT ranking with a couple more wins at HW though.
he fought and beat gus with no training the first fight
Itâs crazy to me that such texts and emails can be revealed.
Isnât there a law that stolen info canât be used or sth?
It wasnât stolen, it was part of discovery in the lawsuit from what I gather
That would be cool if the numbers Jones wanted after the first Gustafsson fight were revealed. He wanted none of that rematch. The way he answered questions about a possible rematch after that fight was very telling.
Meh, that fight was close. I thought Gus won when I watched it but no one got beat up, they could have went another 5 rounds no issue.
I feel like Jon Jones âStill a doucheâ - Lorenzo Fertitta t-shirts would sell really well these days.