Jon Jones has seemingly priced his way out of a heavyweight showdown with current UFC titleholder Francis Ngannou.
Jones, who relinquished his light heavyweight title in 2020 in order to move up to the heavyweight division, was hoping to land a massive superfight with “Predator” sometime this year. Ngannou is coming off a second-round finish over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 to claim the title. If there was ever a time to book the matchup it would be now.
Unfortunately for fight fans hoping to see Jones take on the baddest man on the planet, “Bones” has essentially priced himself out of contention. Jones is looking for too much money to sign on the dotted line so UFC officials are now looking to book a heavyweight rematch between Ngannou and Derrick Lewis.
“We tried to work with Jon, and we eventually have to move on because realistically, and in all honesty, Derrick Lewis is the guy who deserves the fight,” UFC president Dana White said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.” “Derrick Lewis is a heavyweight, he beat Francis Ngannou, he’s looked good in his last couple of fights, he’s ranked in the top three, I think, and he deserves the fight. That’s the fight that should happen. We’ll just roll and do what we do. When Jon’s ready, he’ll let us know.”
White went on to explain the issues UFC is having with Jones.
“In his deal, he’s talking he wants $30 million guaranteed,” said White. “The way that this works is, these guys all share in the pay-per-view. … He will share in the profits of the fight. That’s how it works. That’s how you run a business, and you don’t go broke.”
While fans were hoping to see Jones’ heavyweight debut in 2021 it’s unknown at this time if that will actually happen. It would have been nice to see Jones lock horns with Ngannou and fight for the illustrious UFC heavyweight title, but we’ve seen UFC drop the ball throughout the years and this is really no different.
That said, Lewis has been on an absolute tear and is coming off a blistering knockout win over Curtis Blaydes to push his current win streak to four. Ngannou and Lewis met once before all the way back in 2018 and produced one of the worst heavyweight fights of all time. They’ll be looking to flip the script if the rematch ends up getting booked.
What do you think, fight fans? Should UFC pay what Jones wants? Or does Lewis deserve the next heavyweight title shot?
Sound off!