UFC president [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] has [autotag]Tyson Fury[/autotag]’s attention.
Just a few days after slamming boxing for booking too many “gimmicky-type fights,” White sung a different tune when he inserted himself into the ongoing feud between Fury and Jon Jones. Suddenly, White is interested in making such a gimmicky-fight in the UFC between the two heavyweight champions of boxing and mixed martial arts (his own).
“We can talk all we want,” White said. “Tyson can talk, Jon Jones can talk, I can talk, we can all talk. Let’s do it. If Tyson is serious, and he wants to do it, listen, I got Floyd Mayweather to fight (Conor McGregor), and we paid Floyd. We got Floyd the number he wanted.
“If Tyson Fury is serious, and he wants to fight Jon Jones in the UFC, let’s start talking.”
Fury had already responded to Jones that an MMA fight didn’t interest him. And now he’s letting White know the same thing in response to his offer to start talking.
“If you guys want to fight me it’s got to be under boxing rules!” Fury wrote in his Instagram stories. “I don’t roll round the floor! I stand up and punch.”
Tyson Fury continuing to exchange words with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones on Instagram today: “It’s got to be under boxing rules. I don’t roll round the floor, I stand up and punch.” pic.twitter.com/W51Ru4XOk4
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 25, 2023
This is the latest in what’s been an ongoing social media back-and-forth between Fury, Jones and now White ever since Fury last week took umbrage with UFC commentator and popular podcaster Joe Rogan recently stating that Fury would have no chance against Jones if they fought each other in a locked room.
Jones chimed in shortly after and since then, things have snowballed, but the likelihood of a fight between Fury and Jones being booked remains a long shot.
Multiple drug suspensions and various run-ins with the law that kept him out of action aside, Jones, 35, all but ruled the UFC’s light heavyweight division from 2008 to 2020 as he won 20 fights, including 14 title bouts, between two title defenses. His lone defeat was a disqualification for using illegal elbows in a fight he was dominating.
After a three-year layoff, Jones returned this past March at UFC 285 to make his heavyweight debut and claimed the vacant title with a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane.
Fury has been boxing’s heavyweight king for several years. The lone blemish on his record is a draw against Deontay Wilder in December 2018. Fury has never tasted defeat in 34 fights.