Ariel Helwani weighed in on Dana White’s comments regarding Jon Jones and the UFC Freedom 250 White House card. 

Jones said ahead of the White House card’s announcement that he was in negotiations to return to the UFC, having been stripped of the Heavyweight title in 2025 alongside a retirement. However, White rubbished that notion and said Jones was never going to make the card, and agreed that it would be fair to say Jones was done. 

That prompted Jones to push back and maintain he was in negotiations. Furthermore, he was lowballed in talks to fight Alex Pereira – who is confirmed for Freedom 250 against Ciryl Gane – and asked for his release if the true belief is that he’s done. 

In response to the claim that UFC had offered Jones $15 million to fight Pereira and Jones had asked for more, White refuted that as well and said he was never going to be on the White House card regardless. But Helwani doesn’t see much truth to that.

“So if we are to believe Dana White right now,” he started. “Are you telling me that they went out, they negotiated with people. Because Jon’s numbers, everything he’s saying, I’ve heard as well from multiple sources. Only to not actually be serious about putting him on the card. So why the hell were they negotiating? So why were they talking to his lawyer? Why were they talking to his team? Why were they even getting into numbers at all?”

He further wrote on X: “Dana White being adamant that Jon Jones was never going to be on the card makes zero sense, considering other UFC officials were negotiating with his team and lawyer.”

Jon Jones has now confirmed all parts of what I reported on the White House negotiations — most recently that the UFC would not budge over the $15 million mark.

Dana White being adamant that Jon Jones was never going to be on the card makes zero sense, considering other UFC… pic.twitter.com/AYqUaWS7C1

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) March 23, 2026

Helwani offered an alternative explanation, that White was in fact refuting that Jones was going to be on the White House card as opposed to admitting that they couldn’t deliver the bigger fight.