Love him or hate him, for most of the past decade Jon Jones has been one of the UFC’s biggest, most consistently drawing stars. He’s had his conflicts with UFC brass over the years, and his legal problems—and drug testing problems. But there can be little doubt that over that same stretch, he’s helped make the UFC a whole lot of money.
All of which, apparently, came with an understanding: if he ever wanted to really up his pay grade in the Octagon, he’d have to take on more risk. In a recent interview on The MMA Road Show with John Morgan, Jones spoke about his seemingly failed negotiations with the UFC over a potential heavyweight fight with Francis Ngannou.