‘Probably never going to happen’ Francis Ngannou dismisses possible fight against Jon Jones after UFC exit

It’s not every day that the best in the martial arts world meet. In the history of the UFC, we’ve seen Daniel Cormier fight Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre fight Michael Bisping, and so on. Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones should also be such a fight, but we will probably never see this matchup.

THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME IS NOW THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD 🏆

JON JONES SUBMITS CIRYL GANE!! #UFC285 pic.twitter.com/JOiAnweVJ5

— UFC (@ufc) March 5, 2023

Why did Francis Ngannou pull out of the Jon Jones fight?

Francis had his first title defense against former training partner Ciryl Gane. The fight seemingly went in the French fighter’s favor until Ngannou brought out his wrestling skills and turned his opponent into rags. After this encounter, Ngannou took a long break to recover from his injury.

During this time, the Cameroonian secretly negotiated contract terms with the UFC. He was paid comparatively badly for his last fight and of course he wasn’t happy with the way things were going. Meanwhile, boxing legend Tyson Fury challenged him to Ngannou in a one-off showdown in the ring.

Francis’ demands from the UFC included insurance facilities, individual sponsorship, a better payday and more agency. The UFC maintains some strict rules when it comes to their contracts and didn’t want to allow a fighter to mess things up. Because of this, no final agreement was reached and The Predator went its own way.

Why might we never see Francis Ngannou vs Jon Jones?

Reacting to Jones’ victory, the former heavyweight champion said: “Not very surprising because I knew if I could defeat Ciryl, Jones would be a different story. You’ll have a hot knife if Jones could get his hands on him.”

He discussed the possibility of a future fight against Jones: “A fun fight. The fight I would have liked to have had, but unfortunately we’re not there. That fight didn’t happen and probably never will because he has a very long contract with the UFC so it’s not happening anymore.

Good job Johnny Boy 👍

sincerely,
The heavyweight king

— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) March 5, 2023

‘Bones’ didn’t waste much time challenging Stipe Miocic for his first title defense. With contenders like Tom Aspinall, Curtis “Razor” Blaydes and Sergei Pavlovich, the former 205-lber doesn’t seem short of challengers. On the other hand, Dana White has all but eliminated Ngannou’s chances of ever coming back.

The UFC has previously failed to negotiate with fighters like Fedor Emelianenko. Dissatisfaction with the Russian has surfaced over the years. Francis could also suffer the same fate.

Who would you like to see Ngannou fight next?