No one teases like combat sports promoters and fighters — especially boxing and mixed martial arts — but UFC president Dana White insists that he’s serious about wanting to book Tyson Fury vs. Jon “Bones” Jones.
Fury, the current WBC world heavyweight champion at 35-0-1 with 24 knockouts, has had an on-and-off flirtation with MMA, and White would welcome the opportunity to pair Fury with the UFC heavyweight champion Jones (27-1) in the octagon.
“I like Tyson Fury, I have a great relationship with Tyson Fury,” White said following Saturday’s UFC Fight Night on ESPN 45. “So there’s this debate right now about the baddest man on the planet, right? And Jon Jones is the baddest man on the planet. There’s no doubt about it. So when you talk about who’s the baddest man on the planet, if two guys fought, in a fight, who would win? If you want to discuss another baddest man on the planet, it would be Tyson Fury in a boxing arena.”
White continued, volunteering his thoughts on a potential Fury-Jones megafight.
“We all know if Jon Jones boxed Tyson Fury, Tyson Fury wins,” White said. “All these boxing guys want to talk about this and keep it in the ring. I’m telling Tyson Fury, who I respect very much: If you really want to find out who the baddest man on the planet is, I will make that fight. I will make Jon Jones vs. Tyson Fury in the octagon. And we’ll figure it out. We figured out how to pay Floyd [Mayweather], we’ll figure out how to pay you too, Tyson.”
White was referring to the August 2017 boxing bout between Mayweather and Conor McGregor, in which Mayweather won via 11th-round TKO, retiring 50-0 from professional boxing afterward.
White’s sales pitch comes on the heels of UFC broadcaster Joe Rogan saying on his podcast he’d put “all of my chips” on Jones in a fight with Fury, which prompted ire from the boxing star.
“I heard Joe Rogan say something about me, and I’ve been off all the social medias and didn’t reply to that little p—y, little f–king midget, bald-headed midget,” Fury said in an expletive-filled rant on Instagram.
“I heard him say that Jon Jones could f–k me up if we were in the room together. I don’t think so. Not a man born from a mother could f–k me up, in a room, on our own. Whatever happens in that room, I’d be walking out. Not a f–king problem.”
While ambitious, there are some complications with White’s intentions.
After claiming to want three fights in 2023, Fury has yet to enter the ring since his one-sided, 10th-round stoppage over Derek Chisora in December.
Fury is expected to have a mandatory challenger announced soon, according to his promoter Frank Warren, which could be WBC ranked No. 1 contender Deontay Wilder.
Jones is expected to defend his title against former champion Stipe Miocic, possibly at Madison Square Garden in November.
Jones was last in the octagon in UFC 285 in March, where he submitted Ciryl Gane with a guillotine just over two minutes into their bout for the then-vacant UFC heavyweight championship.
The title was vacated by Francis Ngannou, who famously left the UFC, has since signed with PFL and also wants to box professionally.
In fact, Ngannou entered the ring following Fury’s knockout over British heavyweight Dillian Whyte last April, teasing a superfight between the two heavyweights.
Ngannou called out Fury on Twitter Sunday morning.
Followers of either sport know not to count on the Fury vs. Jones dream fight actually happening, but crazier things have happened.
𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀, 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 & 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘆: nypost.com
𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗠𝗖𝗔,
𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝘁 dmca@enspirers.com
