Dana White claims Jon Jones is top draw in the UFC; Compares him to Conor McGregor

Over the years, UFC President Dana White has been pretty vocal about reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones' issues outside the Octagon. The champion has been a part of a fair few controversies throughout his professional fighting career, ranging from the use of banned substances to allegations of physical abuse and fraud - Jones has seen it all.

However, over the past few years, it seems like Jones has managed to keep away from controversies outside the cage and this has impressed his boss, White. In a recent interaction with MMA Junkie, White said that Jones is a top draw in the promotion along with superstars like Conor McGregor.

“Of course he is (a drawing card), we just broke the record at the Toyota Center for this fight, so yeah, Jones is as star. We did $3.2 million (at the gate), still a couple of hundred tickets to move and we’re opening up some productions kills right now, so it will be well over $3.2 million. And yeah, we’ll have the record.”

White compared Jones with the likes of McGregor and Nate Diaz and said that the fighter has his unique fan base who are always looking forward to watching him inside the Octagon, beating other fighters to a pulp.

“What happens with these different fighters and these different guys, they bring out different groups of people. A completely different group of people show up to see Jon Jones fight on TV or live. Same thing for Conor, same thing for Nate Diaz, and the list goes on and on, it’s always a different group of people.”

Speaking on a topic already spoken about widely - Jones' life outside the cage, White claimed that Jones has managed to finally come around and he looks like a changed man now.

“The truth is that – and you’ve seen it in every sport – too rich, too famous, too young, and when that happens to you, there are consequences to it. There’s a good side and a bad side. Some people can deal the it, some can’t, but then you eventually get to a point that you hopefully get yourself under control and you start to take it seriously and get you shit together. Usually, by the time you do that, it’s too late and your (athletic) window has closed and it’s over. But that’s not the case for Jon Jones.”

Jones is all set to take on undefeated challenger Dominick Reyes in the headliner of UFC 247 which takes place this Saturday inside the Toyota Center in Houston.