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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who surrendered his strap back in late 2020 in order to make his slow and steady transition to heavyweight, has expressed a strong desire to battle reigning 265-pound kingpin Francis Ngannou.

But only on social media.

“I think the first thing we have to know is if Jon Jones is going to fight or not because actually, he finds himself a better battle on Twitter than in the Octagon,” Ngannou said on Bruce Buffer’s “It’s Time!” podcast. “We agreed on Jon Jones. As the champion you have to defend against anyone who stands to be the perfect challenger, who puts himself there. When I first fought Stipe, Jon wasn’t even on the landscape, he wasn’t even in the conversation. There will always be a fight. The only problem will be how and when.”

Probably not in 2022, if at all.

That’s because Ngannou will be sidelined until further notice after undergoing knee surgery to repair damage sustained in the lead up to his Ciryl Gane title defense at UFC 270 in Anaheim. And Jones has yet to make amends with UFC President Dana White.

See you in 2023?

Check out all the fights announced over the past week in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

The UFC took a break this weekend, but it was still busy getting ready for its upcoming eight-week stretch of events. This week, the promotion either announced or finalized 24 fights, and the lightweight champion has his second defense set.

Justin Gaethje said he would ‘riot’ and ‘go to war’ if he did not receive a shot against Charles Oliveira after his win over Michael Chandler at UFC 268 this past November. Fortunately, the ‘Highlight’ does not have to follow through on those threats because he will indeed be fighting ‘Do Bronx’ next at UFC 274, the pay-per-view event scheduled for May 7. The Brazilian recently defended his title at UFC 269, where he submitted Dustin Poirier via third-round rear-naked choke.

Bellator confirmed its return to France with a heavyweight championship rematch between Ryan Bader and Cheick Kongo. ‘Darth’ was in action on Saturday night and defeated Valentin Moldavsky at Bellator 273 to unify the heavyweight titles. Kongo returned to the win column last August with a second-round submission of Sergei Kharitonov at Bellator 265.

UFC 271 — February 12

William Knight vs. Maxim Grishin — light heavyweight

UFC Fight Night — February 19

Parker Porter vs. Alan Baudot — heavyweight

UFC Fight Night — February 26

Misha Cirkunov vs. Wellington Turman — middleweight

Josiane Nunes vs. Jennifer Gonzalez — women’s bantamweight

UFC Fight Night — March 12

Damon Jackson vs. Kamuela Kirk — featherweight

UFC London — March 19

Arnold Allen vs. Dan Hooker — featherweight

Gunnar Nelson vs. Claudio Silva — welterweight

Nathaniel Wood vs. Liudvik Sholinian — bantamweight

Paul Craig vs. Nikita Krylov — light heavyweight

UFC Fight Night — March 26

Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Marc Diakiese — lightweight

Luis Saldaña vs. Bruno Souza — featherweight

UFC 273 — April 9

Dricus Du Plessis vs. Chris Curtis — middleweight

Piera Rodriguez vs. Kay Hansen — women’s strawweight

UFC Fight Night — April 16

Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad — welterweight

Uriah Hall vs. Andre Muniz — middleweight

Lina Länsberg vs. Pannie Kianzad — women’s bantamweight

UFC Fight Night — April 23

Tyson Pedro vs. Ike Villanueva — heavyweight

Tanner Boser vs. Rodrigo Nascimento — heavyweight

Manel Kape vs. Sumudaerji — flyweight

UFC Fight Night — April 30

Donald Cerrone vs. Joe Lauzon — lightweight

Mike Breeden vs. Natan Levy — lightweight

UFC 274 — May 7

Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje — lightweight

Loopy Godinez vs. Ariane Carnelossi — women’s strawweight

UFC Fight Night — May 21

Chase Hooper vs. Felipe Colares — featherweight

Announced Bellator fights:

Bellator 275 — February 25

Lee Hammond vs. Jamie Hay — featherweight

Bellator 276 — March 11

Adam Borics vs. Mads Burnell — featherweight

Bellator Paris — May 6

Ryan Bader vs. Cheick Kongo — heavyweight

Bellator London — May 13

Denise Kielholtz vs. Kana Watanabe — women’s flyweight

Daniel Weichel vs. Robert Whiteford — featherweight

Announced Cage Warriors fights:

Cage Warriors 133 — March 4

Devin Goodale vs. Josh Nakagawa — welterweight

Wilson Reis vs. Jeremiah Labiano — featherweight

Kyle Driscoll vs. Joshua Jones — lightweight

Cage Warriors 134 — March 18

Kingsley Crawford vs. Aidan James — bantamweight

Decky McAleenan vs. Dan Collins — lightweight

Announced KSW fights:

KSW 67 — February 26

Krzysztof Klaczek vs. Dawid ?mie?owski — featherweight

Announced Invicta FC fights:

Invicta FC 46 — March 9

Karina Rodríguez vs. Ketlen Souza — women’s flyweight

Daiana Torquato vs. Milana Dudieva — women’s flyweight

Danielle Taylor vs. Liz Tracy — women’s strawweight

Paulina Granados vs. Monique Adriane — women’s atomweight

It sounds like Zabit Magomedsharipov is close to returning to active competition. 

Zabit Magomedsharipov is healthy again and eyeing a return to the Octagon.

Magomedsharipov has not fought since his ‘Fight of the Night’ awarded appearance at UFC on ESPN+ 21, where he bested Calvin Kattar via unanimous decision. The former No. 3 ranked contender was then plagued by a litany of issues, including fight cancellations and serious health concerns all of which essentially derailed his career for more than two years. The inactivity even led to the Russian being removed from the official featherweight rankings, a move that reportedly left him mulling over early retirement.

However, It appears as though retirement has been staved off for now. Ali Abdelaziz — manager of Magomedsharipov — provided Danny Segura of MMA Junkie with an update on his client. Abdelaziz revealed that his client is training and being tested by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in anticipation of a possible comeback.

“Zabit is training,” said Abdelaziz. “He is in the USADA program, but he went through some health problems. He’s back training, and I think this is a conversation me and the UFC will have probably next week about Zabit to see what the future holds for him, and we’re going to see what happens. But I believe he’s one of the baddest men in the division. I believe he can be the champion tomorrow. Alexander [Volkanovski] is a great champion, but I think Zabit is on a different level.

“It’s a conversation I need to have with [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby next week, and we’re going to figure out what Zabit wants to do also. It’s not just a UFC problem. Zabit has to be like, ‘Hey, I’m ready to fight this month and this date for this much money.’ And now, I will talk to Sean and we’re going to figure things out.”

Magomedsharipov all but confirmed his intention to fight again. In a recent Instagram post, the 30-year-old shared a video of him training and captioned it with an interesting declaration, “On February 28, I will simply destroy someone!” An event is not scheduled for that date, so perhaps he is hinting at something else.

Magomedsharipov has gone 6-0 under the UFC banner, with wins over Jeremy Stephens, Brandon Davis and Kyle Bochniak among his highlights.