Think you need to see Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou? Think again!
UFC President, Dana White, isn’t interested in putting that fight together because the outcome is a foregone conclusion to him. Ngannou is one of the few major UFC fighters to walk away from the promotion in years, and White has decided to no-sell his former Heavyweight champion’s chances against Jones.
“I’m not interested,” White said when asked about Jones vs. Ngannou in a new interview with TMZ. “I tried making that fight for two years. He didn’t want the fight. Do you know what I mean? He didn’t want the fight. And he left here without even having another deal in place. And I know how the boxing world is. It’s crazy. But, Francis didn’t want to do it.”
Meanwhile, that’s not how Ngannou sees it.
“The Predator” blames Jones’ three-year absence on the fight never coming together, which falls on UFC for being unwilling to sort out an agreement with “Bones.” Still, White contends that the fight wouldn’t have been competitive anyway.
Jones ran through Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, winning with a first round guillotine choke just two minutes into their fight (watch highlights). White believes the same thing would have happened to Ngannou.
“I tried to make that fight for two years,” White said. “And let me tell you what: I think a lot of other people feel this way, I think that’s exactly the way [UFC 285] would’ve gone if [Ngannou] was in there, too. Him and Ciryl had a five-round war. If Ciryl doesn’t go for that submission, Ciryl probably wins that fight at the end of the fifth round there.”
So, don’t expect UFC to do anything crazy like offer Ngannou a one-fight contract to face Jones. Instead, White is focusing on Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic.
“The thing that makes this so awesome is basically you have the greatest mixed martial artist of all time facing the greatest heavyweight champion of all time,” White said. “So it literally doesn’t get any better than that. These are the kinds of fights you dream about making.”
White didn’t rule out the possibility of Jones vs. Miocic going down at UFC 290 during “International Fight Week” in July, but he did suggest the date might be too close for both fighters. Whenever the bout happens, it could very well be the last fight for Jones as well.
“I wouldn’t be shocked either if [Jon] fights Stipe and then retires, is done with fighting,” White said.