Inside scoop on UFC's ultimatum to Jon Jones, Francis Ngannou accused of reckless sparring, Kamala Harris' team on Joe Rogan fail: MMA News Roundup

According to a veteran with inside knowledge, UFC allegedly gave Jones a final verdict about his future in the promotion. Elsewhere, a former training partner accused Francis Ngannou of hurting sparring partners at the gym.

Read on to find out more about today's top combat sports updates.

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Retire or Tom Aspinall: Jon Jones' only two options in the UFC

Chael Sonnen, who claims to have inside news on the Jon Jones-Tom Aspinall situation, recently said that UFC has taken a strong stance on the matter.

Sonnen said on ESPN's Good Guy/ Bad Guy show with Daniel Cormier that the only two options Jones has been presented with by the UFC are to either fight Tom Aspinall next or retire from the sport.

"I'll let you know the UFC's stance. Jon [Jones] has two choices - you fight Tom or you do not fight. There is nobody else that’s going to be offered. In fact, we got a name that came off the board in terms of Alex Pereira. Dana put that to absolute rest... Jon can sit out and not fight, that’s true. But he’s not going to be in a spot where he could fight someone else. It’s basically retire [or] fight Tom Aspinall."

Watch Chael Sonnen's comments below (27:08):

Jones, meanwhile, has confirmed in a recent tweet that he will vacate the UFC heavyweight belt before retiring if he does.

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Francis Ngannou beats up people blindly in sparring, allegedly

PFL heavyweight Denis Goltsov says Francis Ngannou "doesn't know how to work" with sparring partners.

In a recent interview with Russian outlet Ushatayka, Goltsov revealed that he sparred with 'The Predator' several times during the pandemic at the latter's gum, Extreme Couture. He claimed he had heard rumors of Ngannou being reckless during training [Translation and H/t: MMA Weekly]:

"When there is training or sparring there, [during] the fight, people are on the ground fighting with him, [if] a triangle is fastened on him [and] he understands that there is no way out of there, he begins to simply beat the person. I think that this says a lot about the person, about his personal qualities."

Goltsov added that while Ngannou did not hurt him during their sparring, the former UFC heavyweight champion allegedly chose to disregard Goltsov's existing injury:

"[Nothing major happened] when we worked with him. I had a nose injury a few months ago. I asked him to work more carefully. He said with the nose, well, it's not as if it's not visible. Yes, I realized that it wouldn't be easy to build a relationship with him."

Watch Ushatayka's Russian language interview with Denis Goltsov below:

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Kamala Harris' team tells their side of the Joe Rogan story

Kamala Harris almost appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast around the same time Donald Trump did. However, it never came to fruition.

During a recent conversation on Pod Save America, the official team for the Harris-Walz campaign broke their silence on the failed negotiations. Stephanie Cutter, political strategist and senior adviser to Harris for the 2024 elections, gave the following explanation:

"We had discussions with Joe Rogan's team. They were great. They wanted us to come on, we wanted to come on. We tried to get a date to make it work, and ultimately, we just weren't able to find a date."

Cutter added that although Harris visited Texas, where Rogan is located, and shoots his podcasts, things did not align as he was shooting the episode with Donald Trump on that day. Cutter said that they were not informed about the schedule.

"She was ready and willing to go on Joe Rogan. Would it have changed anything?... Didn't ultimately impact the outcome one way or the other. But she was willing to do whatever it takes."

Catch Kamala Harris' team's comments below (53:10):

The UFC commentator shared his reasoning on the subject in a later episode.