The fallout from the unprecedented move to relocate UFC 232 from Las Vegas, Nevada to Inglewood, California on a week’s notice due to abnormality in one of Jon Jones’ drug test which stems back from over a year, is still going strong.
From fight fans being upset at the fact that they are stuck with air travel, event tickets and hotels that can no longer be fully refunded, to other fighters competing at the event steaming about having to do more traveling on fight week, the UFC 232 debacle has affected quite a bit of people.
As president of UFC, a lot of the burden and stress falls on Dana White. And when the tough calls have to be made, White says it’s simply impossible to keep everyone happy, as was the case this time around.
“I have 550 fighters under contract. I have 350 employees. I have hundreds and hundreds of contractors that work for me. You can’t keep everybody happy. It’s impossible. Not everybody is gonna be happy,” he said in an interview with the Southern California News Group on Monday via the OC Register. (courtesy of Bloody Elbow).
As explained in this video, White is adamant Jones — via “experts” reasoning -- did not ingest anything new to churn out a positive result. That’s why moving the event was the only reasonable thing to do on such short notice.
Despite the fact that Jon has given him perhaps more headaches and sleepless nights than any other fighter, Dana stands by Jon this time around, defending his innocence.
“Any time something pops up with Jon Jones, I’m like, ‘Jesus.’ There’s literally nobody in the history of this sport that’s screwed up more than Jon Jones. That’s a fact,” he added, before defending Jones.
“Jon Jones didn’t do anything wrong. This time. So what’s fair is fair. This fight should happen and it’s gonna happen so it is what it is.”
Furthermore, White did give Alexander Gustafsson — the man who will fight Jones for the vacant Light Heavyweight title — the option to postpone the rematch until March, presumably at UFC 235. But being the trooper he is, “The Mauler” opted to carry on with the original matchup.
Because not even rocket fuel is going to help “Bones” come fight night.
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