But he has been vocal recently about fighting again, something he hasn't done since stopping Stipe Miocic in defense of his UFC heavyweight title in November 2024.

Jones got into a public feud with the UFC in March about being excluded from the White House card and exchanged words with Dana White, going as far as to ask for a release from his contract to pursue other opportunities.

One surprising development that surfaced for Jones (28-1, 11 KOs, 7 Submissions) late last month was a crossover boxing match against heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, who has zeroed in on Jones as a highly desired challenge for his retirement fight in the United States.

Jones turns 39 on Sunday. And on the eve of his birthday, the fighter universally regarded as the GOAT of MMA will be front and center for a different form of fighting: An IBA bare knuckle boxing event in Miami, for which he will be an ambassdor.

The Ring caught up with the former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion for a wide-ranging interview discussing his interest in fighting Usyk and returning in general, his current UFC contractual situation, relationship with Dana White and more.

The interview and transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.

When it comes to me actually fighting anyone, I just keep the door open. I'm still in the UFC's drug testing pool, I get drug tested and blood tested all the time. The door is open. I'm just allowing time to fly by focusing on somebody else. If I get that call or a tug from higher powers, then I'm going to have to answer that call. But right now, I feel like I'm in the right place, which is serving someone else.

I'm living vicariously through my buddy Gable Steveson, the UFC heavyweight prospect that I am coaching. I tell everybody that being backstage, being around the fans, seeing that passion, being in the gym training, I get to do it all over again through Gable. So I'm giving him my absolute best, teaching him everything I know about the sport. A lot of fans are like, 'Jon, when are you going to come back?' And those same fans are also saying, 'Welcome back, coach Jones.' I'm getting my itch. I feel like I'm giving the fans their itch, but I'm just doing it with a fighter from a younger generation.

I feel like that's what life is all about. As we grow, learn and progress, it's important to have our own prodigies, whether that's in journalism or MMA. It's important to put somebody else on at some point in your life. That's what I'm doing now. Honestly, it's fulfilling. Not as fulfilling as being in the ring or in the octagon, but it is scratching that itch. I can genuinely say I'm happy right now.

No, I am not interested. Not at all. I'm gonna pass. Usyk is Usyk, man. He's one of the absolute GOATs of heavyweight boxing. I also am aware that he does wrestling, and that wrestling has been a heavy part of his training for many years. It's probably why he's so dominant in the clinch. If he'd like to test his total combat skills, I would oblige him in that. But to handicap myself by only using my hands, that's just not the world that I come from.

Of all the heavyweight boxers, I do see Usyk having the highest potential and making it competitive. But I am no boxer and don't really consider Usyk to be a complete fighter. I think the world knows what would happen if we were locked in the same room, and I'll just leave it at that. The way I respect him in the ring, he should respect me in that cage.

My overall health is great, mentally, spiritually, and physically. I feel really good, I'm really happy. Business is going good. My kids are doing great. God's been really good to me.

I do have arthritis. I was just talking to Joe Rogan the other day, and he was saying that stem cells aren't something you can just take once. It's something that compiles. So you need to go back in and continue getting these injections, and eventually you'll find yourself feeling amazing. So, I'm going to take his advice. I am going to get some stem cells and just see how I feel. I'm just taking it one day at a time really.

But it's been great, because I have a great team in First Round Management with the Kawa family. These guys really keep me busy, because I don't need to fight anymore. That's a good feeling, to not have the pressure of defending a belt or needing a check.

My main job now is being face to face and giving back to the people that made this thing possible, which are the fans. That's my whole life now, and it's so rewarding to get to know the faces of the people who've been in the stands for all these years.

As long as I'm in the drug testing pool, the UFC is contractually obligated to offer me a few fights a year. I haven't heard anything from them in a while. But I just take it as it comes, one day at a time. Right now, my main focus is just being a good dad, a good family man, staying on top of my businesses and endorsements, and making sure Gable is improving. That's just where life is at right now, you know. When I get offered to fight, that's going to be great. And we'll see how I feel when that time comes. But yeah, things are great.

It was good to see Dana White the other day. We laughed, we took a photo together. Being backstage with all the other UFC fighters is always amazing. The guys are always so respectful to me. I try to inspire those guys by just being kind and friendly. I feel like I represent a lot in the sport, and I try to be that example. Just because we're UFC fighters doesn't mean we have to be hard all the time. Smile, shake a hand, make a friend, kiss a baby, you know, and so it's great. I'm still learning, still teaching. I feel like I'm exactly where I should be in life.

In order to do big business, you can't hold grudges. You have to let bygones be bygones. You have to be able to work with people that you don't love. I've made Dana millions of dollars over the years, and vice versa. It's not always about how you feel about a person. It's just like, can we still work and do business together? I feel like we're always going to be able to make money together. Will I be invited to his house on Christmas? Probably not. But the guy changed my life, and he is a homie for life. And despite how he feels about me, I'm always going to give him that respect.

It's been absolutely life-changing being involved with the IBA's previous events in Russia. I've made a lot of really great friendships and have a lot more support. I get to shake hands with people that I would have never met. So it's great. I've always said that fighting brings people together. It allows people to forget about differences, whether that's skin color, religion, or country. When you love fighting, you just love fighting. I'm really proud to be an ambassador of the IBA. I'm excited that we're making our debut here in America. I feel like a lot of the fighters may be relatively unknown to the American fan base, but that doesn't mean that these guys are not extremely talented. These guys just throw caution to the wind. There's a whole lot of blood. If you love boxing, be prepared to just see it on a completely different level. It's going to be a wild night on Saturday.

Fighting is more popular right now than ever. Some of these belts in boxing and the UFC, they kind of have combat sports on a chokehold. You're kind of forced to see the same names, the same promotion. I feel like there's an explosion of promoters and new talent. A lot of people are bigger college sports fans than the pros because of their passion. When you're seeing young men who absolutely have to win, you just see a different level of passion.

I think that's what I love the most about bare knuckle boxing. You're seeing guys looking for their second chance. Maybe they couldn't cut it in the UFC. Or you're looking for guys who are just now starting, and they're in that position where they have no choice – they have to make it. There's just a passion that I feel is unmatched. To be willing to get in there with no gloves and risk having a scar for life, it takes a certain type of character, and you see it in the fights. These guys really just throw caution to the wind, and that's what hooked me. I'm used to that MMA world where it's just different. There's just a different grittiness to bare knuckle boxing that you can't deny.

Dirty Boxing, DBX, it's a wild sport, man. It's boxing where we allow elbows, spinning attacks, whether that's a spinning forearm, spinning fist, or spinning elbow. And unlike traditional boxing where you get a 10 count, we give you five seconds of ground and pound. If you can finish your opponent in that five seconds, the fight is over. If you can't, then we stand you back up. We allow the Muay Thai clinch, we allow wrestling, the over-under clinch. We don't necessarily break up the fight when there's heavy clinching. Here is the best way to explain it: if you like UFC, but you don't like watching people wrestle around or do jiu-jitsu, then you're going to love dirty boxing. It's a hybrid MMA, without the groundwork. It's a lot faster paced. There's a lot more knockouts, a lot more blood.

We've created something absolutely magical. It's a very up-close experience where the fans and the fighters are right there on top of each other. There are no real ropes between the fans and the athletes. It feels like a big-old house party. It's family-owned with the Kawas, homegrown, one of a kind, and it's one of the hottest tickets in Miami right now and eventually will be across the U.S. It's going to be really spectacular. We're growing straight up.

Get out there, have fun, enjoy life, experience some of these other organizations. I give some of these new fighters a chance. I mean, obviously, I'm a UFC fighter through and through. But there are so many more things going on out there, and I just encourage people to dab into all of the different promotions. There are thousands of fighters who need support. So go out there, mix it up a little bit. Combat sports is more alive than ever. You don't have to be the cream of the crop anymore to have a successful fighting career anymore. It's a great time for it.

I think Gane is going to win. When you become the champion and you beat a man like Alex Pereira, it has to do something for your confidence. And even in Gane's first fight against Aspinall, Tom was looking pretty invincible until Ciryl came on. Most people feel that Gane was winning that fight. So I feel like Gane's confidence has to be at an all-time high.

I tell you, the night that I fought Gane in March 2023, we were backstage and talking to the doctor after the fight. He came to me privately when I was with the doctor. At that moment, he just seemed so much bigger than just moments before. He stood up in front of me. He looked me in the eye. He shook my hand and he said, 'I'll be back. We're going to do this again.' And he said it like he meant it. That taught me a lot about his character right then.

He wasn't mad, wasn't bitter. He was a great sportsman. He seemed more destined and determined than ever, to the point where I was slightly intimidated. Because I'm like, 'Dude, I just choked you out minutes ago and you're looking at me like you're ready for round two.' So I believed him when he said, 'I'll be back.' Now he's back, just against different competition. He has my support. I love the class that he carries, and I think he's a great representative for France and for the UFC, and I hope he does really well for a really long time.

Conor has been publicly leaning on Christ. I feel as if when you are trying to resist the world and walk that narrow path, one of the steps is God asking you how bad do you want it? When you publicly talk about your love for God, and then you turn around and get injured, it would be really easy to go back to the bar and have this rage, and this animosity. So far, what I'm seeing from Conor is that he's still praising God. That shows me a lot about his character. Because that's what God is going to do, man. He's going to strip you. He is going to humiliate you. He can do so many different things just to see if you mean it when you say you love him.

I've lost my family members. I've embarrassed myself. Every time something goes wrong, I always give grace back to God. That's one of the ways I look at Conor's story. Like, man, can you hold true when the whole world is laughing at you? So far, he is holding true. That means a lot to see. Conor has already won. He has an opportunity to change so many lives in so many different ways. I think he's a really great example of just how humans could be so imperfect but so unique and special at the same time. I just hope he doesn't give up. I hope that he continues to let his light shine and just draw us closer to God.

Gable looked absolutely great in his last fight. My dad was a fan of his ever since he was a young man in college, and I got more hyped for him as he just continued to do well. I wanted to make sure that I didn't lose against Miocic in my last fight. So I found the best in the world at what they did – breathing coaches, nutritionists, weightlifting coaches, wrestlers, jiu-jitsu – you name it. I found the best.

Gable was the best at wrestling. He came out and lived at one of my houses in Albuquerque. He didn't ask me for anything. He just completely committed to the program selflessly. He had a bunch of roommates and showed no signs of being bougie. He was just in the trenches with the boys. He earned my respect and my team's respect. And I said to him, 'When it's your turn to make it, I'm going to make sure you're in the right direction.'

I've had the privilege to introduce him to almost everybody in my life: friends, coaches, you name it. People that work for me now work for Gable. It keeps our group together. And it keeps everybody aspiring toward something. It's just been great. He has everything that it takes. He's humble, and speaks confidently. Some people may find it arrogant, but he has the mindset of a champion. He eats clean. He's a new father. He's a husband. He's just the perfect athlete. He's only 26 years old. He's confident. University of Minnesota educated. I mean, I can go on and on and on singing this young man's praises.

I say all the time that he's a lot like me without any of that out-of-the-ring bull----. His circle is already my developed circle. I started young and had to get rid of the losers. My friends today are top tier. That's his circle today. We're going to keep him at a very high level. I don't make bad bets. I don't gamble. I try to follow my heart, my intuition and my heart's telling me, 'Hey Jon, this is a sure thing.' Now I have an obligation to see it through and make sure that he's that sure thing that I believe he is.

You have guys like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Shaquille O'Neal, who did amazing things after basketball and became awesome businessmen and surrounded themselves with people that were so much smarter than them. They did extraordinary things in business. This inspires me. But in the sport of wrestling, I look at guys like Dan Gable and Cael Sanderson, two of the greatest wrestlers in wrestling history.

I'm trying to be a hybrid of all these guys. Look at Mike Tyson. He messed up so many times, but now he is absolutely beloved for just figuring it out and getting it together. So I draw from so many different people in business and in life and in giving back to others. If I can be a hybrid of these athletes, I'll be in a pretty good place. So that's what I'm trying to do.

I'm a person who used to be absolutely wild, and I changed my life around. I'm trying to be someone who was an athlete who became a really, really great businessman and a guy who was great on the field, or in the cage, and became an even better coach. These are some of my inspirations that keep me waking up in the morning, keep me driving forward toward something.

I became a little bit of a party boy when I was young. Sometimes I ask myself how much farther I would have gone had I never started with the alcohol. I feel all my setbacks in life have been directly related to alcohol.

I've been able to achieve some amazing things and reach some pretty amazing heights. But I feel like things could have been even higher if I had never gotten into partying. I had like five or six years of inactivity right in the middle of my career. So to all you young athletes out there, just keep things in check.

Being able to say, I'm sorry. I'm wrong, or I used to be an a------, whatever it may be. It's about learning, growing, acknowledgement, self-awareness, and just trying to be better and leave a positive mark on the universe, somehow.