Jon Jones operated on his terms, even in announcing his retirement

UFC CEO Dana White delivering the retirement news of arguably the greatest mixed martial artist of all time at a postfight news conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, after Saturday's UFC Fight Night card was as underwhelming as it gets.

White's tone suggested that he was let down -- again -- by the man he recently called the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

That man -- Jon Jones -- has operated on his terms and moved at his own pace. His retirement was no different.

But should anybody be surprised Jones decided to go out this way? More importantly, do we believe that this is truly the end of Jones' complicated career?

For better or worse, Jones is easily the most selfish fighter in UFC history. And that has worked brilliantly for his MMA career and to the detriment of everyone else.

Jones' retirement squashed a highly anticipated heavyweight title unification fight between Jones and interim champion Tom Aspinall after months of will they, won't they. Jones went out of his way to denigrate Aspinall as an opponent, calling him unproven and annoying. At the same time, he opted to take a legacy-furthering fight with 42-year-old former champion Stipe Miocic that may age better on paper. There was no real reason for the Miocic fight to happen other than the UFC gifting Miocic a payday and feeding Jones' ego. White felt confident enough last December to guarantee "100 percent" the fight would happen and Jones would take on Aspinall next.

Instead, Jones routinely teased retirement, floated bouts against non-Aspinall opponents such as Alex Pereira and Francis Ngannou and seemingly laughed at the idea that he could be stripped of his title.

And remember, you can't strip a guy like me at this point I give the belt up freely. Veni, vidi, vici. 😘

— Jonny Meat (@JonnyBones) June 6, 2025

"The fight was done," White told the media on Sunday in New York. "We had the fight done a long time ago. Why he decided not to fight, you guys will have to ask him that."

Jones has let people down before to maintain control. There is no concern for the fans, his promoter, or his teammates. But the greatest athletes always have a quirk that separates them from the rest. Jones' quirk just happens to be selfishness.

That selfishness has protected him for his entire MMA career. Without it, he may not be where he is today.

Jones not fighting Aspinall is just one of many examples where Jones has put his needs first, regardless of who has helped him get to where he is. The UFC could have abandoned Jones during his litany of legal issues. Instead, they stood by their most popular and profitable star, perhaps more than any other fighter outside of Conor McGregor.

But what about when Jones leapfrogged his Jackson Wink teammate Rashad Evans to fight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua for the light heavyweight title? What was allegedly a close relationship between training partners dissolved into a vitriolic war of words that led to Evans leaving the gym. Evans called out Jones for being "fake" and said his "good guy act" would eventually fall apart. Jones went on to defeat Evans at UFC 145 in 2012, but the words of his rival have hung over Jones' career.

Jones also turned down a short-notice fight with Chael Sonnen, causing the cancellation of UFC 151 in 2012, the first time a UFC pay-per-view was called off. To be clear, Jones had three days left in his training camp when he learned Dan Henderson was injured and Sonnen, a former middleweight title contender, had offered to step in. White's disgust with Jones rang loud and clear on a conference call announcing the cancellation.

"This is one of the most selfish, disgusting decisions that doesn't just affect you," White said at the time. "This is affecting 16 other lives, their families, kids are going back to school. The list goes on and on of all the things, the money that was spent for fighters to train and the list goes on and on. Like I said, I don't think this is going to make Jon Jones popular with the fans, sponsors, cable distributors, television network executives or other fighters."

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Aspinall vows to become the heavyweight GOAT after Jones' retirement

Tom Aspinall speaks after officially becoming the UFC heavyweight champion after Jon Jones' retirement.

When asked on Sunday about whether Jones ducked Aspinall, White referred to UFC 151. "I've said it a million times and I'll say it again: Jon Jones has never ducked anybody other than that one goofy time with the Chael Sonnen thing."

Other champions have stepped up on short notice, including Islam Makhachev, who recently defended his lightweight title on a day's notice against Renato Moicano at UFC 311, but Jones opted to look out for himself. Is it wrong? Not necessarily. Jones would have been favored to win regardless, but he couldn't be in control of the circumstances, and that's the key to his decision-making.

Perhaps the most interesting example of Jones putting himself first is how he has expertly navigated the latter half of his career and protected his status as MMA's GOAT.

The front half of Jones' career was astounding and filled with dominant performances over Hall of Fame fighters Rua, Evans and Vitor Belfort. He also finished three future HOFers in Sonnen, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida. But over the past decade, he has fought a mere nine times because of legal issues, suspensions and injuries.

Outside of two fights with bitter rival Daniel Cormier -- one of which was a knockout win at UFC 214 in July 2014 that was overturned because Jones tested positive for a banned substance -- the back half of Jones' UFC career doesn't compare to the first.

Jones expertly avoided putting himself in danger of losing by fighting so infrequently. To his credit, he still won. But fans began questioning what would happen against a high-level opponent in his prime. A megafight with Ngannou never materialized in part because Jones reportedly asked for "Deontay Wilder money" ($20-$30 million), and we have seen something similar with Aspinall. Jones chirped through social media and diminished the importance of the fight.

It's not about money, loyalty or pleasing anyone else for Jones. It's about Jones doing what he wants, when he wants and how he wants. And when he grew tired of the fans complaining and was possibly given a deadline to make a decision to fight or give up the heavyweight belt, White said Jones called and retired.

If, or when, Jones decides to come out of retirement to fight Aspinall or someone else, he'll be in the driver's seat of negotiating. After all, retirement is leverage in MMA, and if there's one thing Jones loves, it's operating on his terms.