White: Jones has done 'a very good job of tarnishing' himself
Warning: Story contains coarse language
In Dana White's eyes, the only reason why Jon Jones isn't an even bigger name is Jones himself.
The UFC president continued his war of words with Jones during a press conference Saturday night, saying "Bones" could've been a bigger MMA icon if he'd gotten out of his own way.
"I'm always looking at what Jon Jones could've been," White said. "He could've been the LeBron (James) of the sport, he could've been that big."
"In one of his tweets, he was saying that I tarnished his (name)," White added. "I tarnished you? You've done a very good job of tarnishing you."
White's comments come amid an escalating war of words between him and Jones.
Jones responded early Sunday morning, saying White has tried to justify underpaying him for years by "bringing up my out-of-the-cage affairs." The 32-year-old has been arrested multiple times during his UFC career and pled guilty to a DWI charge last March.
Jones also previously accused White of lying about the light heavyweight champion asking for an "absurd amount of money" to fight heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou. White said Friday that Jones wanted "what (former world boxing champion) Deontay Wilder was paid. ... I think it was $30 million."
Though White recently called Jones the greatest fighter of all time, he doesn't think that's enough to guarantee him that kind of money.
"Being the greatest of all time doesn't mean you get $30 million. (It's) being able to sell," he said, before later adding that his lawyer, Hunter Campbell, told Jones, "'You can come in here and walk through the numbers, I'll walk you through all the numbers.' And (Jones) says, 'I don't give a fuck what the numbers are. I want what I want and that's it.'"
White also said Jones "can do whatever he wants to do. He can sit out, he can fight, he can (do) whatever. ... When he's ready to come back and fight, he can."
Jones last fought in February, defeating Dominick Reyes via unanimous decision.