What could have been …

For months, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana Whitewas confident that then-Heavyweight champion Jon Jones would defend his title against interim champion Tom Aspinall. That mega-fight never materialized. Instead, Jones announced his retirement, and Aspinall went on to become the undisputed Heavyweight champion — recently defending his title (via No Contest) just 12 days ago.

At the time, White revealed that “Bones” agreed to fight Aspinall but ultimately changed his mind. MMA journalist Ariel Helwani later reported that Jones was offered a staggering $ 30 million to take the fight, but turned it down a day after accepting the fight.

Now, Jones himself is admitting that the fallout was his fault. In a recent appearance on the No Scripts podcast, the two-division champion expressed regret for how everything unfolded and said he hopes to reconcile with White — especially as he eyes a spot on next year’s historic UFC White House event.

“My most immediate goal is to try and get on the White House card,” Jones said. “I’m giving Dana his space. Dana has changed my life and my children’s lives. I’m forever grateful to him. We had a verbal agreement [to fight Aspinall] that didn’t go over well — nothing was finalized. I do admit guilt, I was wrong. The way things went down, I wish I could see him face-to-face and apologize to him so that we can let bygones be bygones and get back to making some major money for the sport and entertaining the fans.”

Jones added with a laugh, “When he’s feeling me, I’m probably one of his favorite fighters. When he’s not, I’m probably the reason he has a bald head.”

Jones has set his sights on a super fight against Alex Pereira at UFC White House, but White has said there’s a “billion-to-one” chance of that happening — citing trust issues and possible lingering frustration over the scrapped Aspinall matchup. Still, with six months until the White House card, anything is possible.

Especially if the Trump family has their say.

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