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#4. Jon Jones – Former UFC light-heavyweight champion
Jon Jones first won the UFC light heavyweight title back in 2011, and over the decade that's followed, he's become not only one of the all-time greats in MMA but has also been a go-to fighter for the UFC.
If anything, the UFC has probably had more of a right to become frustrated with 'Bones' in that time rather than the other way around.
Jones has found himself in hot water on numerous occasions thanks to his run-ins with USADA, and in 2012, was in Dana White's bad book after refusing a last-minute fight at UFC 151, resulting in the show's cancellation.
However, in recent years, Jones has been at loggerheads with White over his pay and exactly what he's worth to the UFC.
After his successful title defense against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, Jones made his intentions to move to heavyweight and look to win his second UFC title clear. And for a time, it looked like a debut fight in the division against Francis Ngannou would be booked.
However, Jones reportedly balked when it became clear that the UFC was not willing to up his pay for the potential clash with 'The Predator.'
According to White, Jones was demanding "Deontay Wilder money" – somewhere in the ballpark of $30m – for the fight, a figure the UFC wasn't willing to match.
In response, Jones labeled White a liar and then demanded to be released from his UFC contract – something that has, of course, not come to pass.
Whether cooler heads will prevail in this situation remains a question mark right now, but hopefully, Jones and White can find common ground – and the UFC can match a figure in the right ballpark – to bring this brilliant fighter back into the fold.
#3. BJ Penn – former UFC lightweight & welterweight champion
Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn was every bit the company man in his second stint with the promotion, which lasted from 2006 through 2019.
Credited by Dana White as being “the man who built the 155lbs division,” Penn was a two-time Ultimate Fighter coach and was entered into the UFC’s Hall of Fame in 2015. Despite this, it’s fair to say that his first run with the promotion ended about as acrimoniously as possible.
Penn defeated Matt Hughes for the UFC welterweight title at UFC 46 in 2004, but the bout happened to be the final one on his contract. And according to ‘The Prodigy,’ he was then offered $187.5k per fight by Japanese promotion K-1 – around five times the amount the UFC was offering him on a new deal.
Penn claims he was willing to stay with the UFC for one-third of the amount offered by K-1, but such an offer never came – and so when he decided to sign with the Japanese promotion, White was apoplectic.
According to Penn, White made an angry phone call to him, telling him that he’d never be welcomed back in the UFC and that the promotion would even remove his fight with Hughes from the DVD version of UFC 46.
‘The Prodigy’ eventually returned to the UFC two years after his departure, and the relationship between himself and White was seemingly repaired from then on. However, he remains a major example of a UFC champion who clashed with the UFC President when it came to fighter pay.
