Dana White is still pointing the finger at Francis Ngannou.
Nearly two years removed from his unceremonious UFC exit, Ngannou is still taking flack from the UFC CEO despite White claiming that he has zero animosity toward the former heavyweight champion. Following Tuesday’s episode of DWCS, White disputed the longstanding belief that Jon Jones should carry any of the blame for his fight with Ngannou never coming to fruition.
Instead, White once again put it all on Ngannou and expressed confidence that they won’t run into a similar issue when they eventually go to book a fight between Jones and current interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
“I have zero animosity towards Francis,” White said. “Francis was out of my world a long time ago. [Sean Shelby] and Mick [Maynard] are another story. It’s a long story. [Shelby] did everything he could in his power to make Jon Jones vs. Francis. The fight did not happen and let me tell you what, it wasn’t because of Jon Jones.
“So Jon is a very unique individual to deal with. Jon Jones will fight everybody. Jon Jones was absolutely — he wanted Francis! You saw what happened with Ciryl Gane. He will tell you like he told us that he would do the same thing to Francis Ngannou. He wanted that fight so bad.
“And for anybody who thinks — I know the whole internet, ‘Oh Jon Jones!’ that I’m up Jon Jones’s ass, these are f*cking facts. Facts. And since everybody has been such douchebags about this, I’m coming out with a nice little punch in the face for all you f*ckers that think Jon Jones isn’t the greatest of all time.
“Dislike him, whatever your beef is with Jon Jones, knock yourself out. There’s no way in hell that Jon Jones doesn’t want to fight Aspinall. That I guarantee you” (h/t MMA Fighting).
Dana White sees Jon Jones sticking around to find Tom Aspinall
A few months after Ngannou’s exit, Jones emerged from a three-year-long layoff to claim the vacant heavyweight title with a quick two-minute submission victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. He was supposed to follow up that performance with a title defense against two-time champion Stipe Miocic nine months later, but a pectoral injury forced him to bow out of the bout.
In response, the promotion introduced an interim belt at UFC 295 won by Tom Aspinall following a stunning first-round KO of Sergei Pavlovich.
Aspinall has since defended the temporary title and trolled Jones relentlessly in hopes of securing a unification clash with the undisputed champ. Unfortunately, neither Jones nor the UFC have taken the bait, instead opting to rebook Jones’ bout with Miocic which is rumored to go down this November at MSG.
Jones has regularly teased retirement once his business with Miocic is in the books, but White is of the belief that ‘Bones’ will stick around long enough to test himself against the man many are calling the best heavyweight in the world.
“Jon Jones is doing Jon Jones right now,” White said. “That’s what he does. There is nobody that we’ve ever dealt with, when I tell you is not afraid to fight anybody. It’s Jon Jones… I believe Jon Jones-Aspinall happens if he beats Stipe…”
“We’ll do everything we can to make that fight happen… What fights don’t we make? Other than the Francis thing, what fights don’t we make? You can’t make people fight and we couldn’t make Francis fight. But every other fight we’ve made. We’ve dealt with guys like Brock Lesnar. Think of the biggest stars that have ever been in the sport. We’ve always made the fights.”