Jon Jones is done with fighting. Well, just about done, anyway.
The former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion kept the torch of a comeback dimly lit late Friday evening, taking to Twitter to respond to a fan asking if he plans to fight again. Jones wrote, “More than likely, I won’t fight again,” but added that he is still in the UFC’s drug-testing pool, and that he is “leaving doors open.”
See Jones’ statement below.
More than likely, I won’t fight again, but as of right now I’m still getting drug tested. Leaving doors open, you never know what the future holds.
According to the UFC’s official drug-testing website, the 39-year-old Jones has been tested four times in 2026.
Jones is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in MMA history, having held multiple titles at 205 pounds with 11 successful championship defenses in that division from 2011 to 2020. He remains the youngest fighter to ever win a UFC title, having accomplished the feat at the age of 23.
“Bones” added to his impressive résumé in 2023 when he submitted Ciryl Gane to capture a heavyweight title vacated by Francis Ngannou, who departed the UFC to join PFL. He successfully defended the belt against heavyweight legend Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in what was, to date, the final fight of Jones’ career. Jones later retired in June 2025, spoiling a potential matchup with interim champion Tom Aspinall, but soon announced his intentions to fight again when UFC CEO Dana White and President Donald Trump announced the UFC White House event, though Jones was eventually left off of that card.
Jones’ legacy is complicated by his numerous outside-of-the cage controversies, including his involvement in a 2015 hit-and-run that resulted in his first light heavyweight title reign ending due to the UFC stripping him of his belt, failed drug tests, and a 2021 arrest for domestic violence (a charge later dropped when Jones pleaded no-contest to a related charge of injuring or tampering with a vehicle).
This past week, Jones has been active on social media, continuing his long-running feud with former UFC fighter Colby Covington, who called Jones a “terrible human being” while criticizing Jones’ tutelage of heavyweight prospect Gable Steveson. The two went back-and-forth with Twitter comments, and Jones remained dismissive in his latest response.
“I just like reminding Colby that I’m not the man I used to be,” Jones said. “And even at my weakest, I’ve always been better than him. I’m everything he could never be, and I know it kills him inside. You can see it in the passion he has when it comes to me.
“I just want to give him a little more to hate. That’s all.”
