Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira came face-to-face for the first time earlier today (Thurs., Aug. 22, 2024) at the special pre-fight press conference in Washington D.C. to promote their upcoming “super fight” on Oct. 19 at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ngannou
See the staredown between the two heavy-hitters here.
During the presser, Ferreira declared that this bout would determine who the best heavyweight on the planet is, including current Ultimate Fighting heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, and interim title holder, Tom Aspinall. Meanwhile, Ngannou is adamant he was the once asking for a showdown against “Bones,” despite Dana White often claiming “The Predator” wanted no part of Jones.
“That’s the new narrative because he needs to say something either way. But as far as I am concerned, he was saying to me Jon Jones didn’t want to fight with me, according to them,” said Jones. “So many times that we sat down with them in the meetings they would say, ‘It won’t happen, Jon Jones doesn’t want to fight anymore. He lives in Albuquerque, simple life, a lot of money in his bank.’ So, the guy that controls the narrative, he can say whatever he wants,” added Ngannou.
“But that is not the narrative. I was the one asking for the Jon Jones fight. But I didn’t want it to be like a trap to get into some deal, get into something that I didn’t want, you know. I wanted it to be straight and square. I wanted to fight Jon Jones on good conditions, not just to fight.”
And that was a big theme of the presser, because Jake Paul also took the chance to slam UFC CEO, Dana White, for not putting his money where his mouth is and allowing his big men to face off against PFL’s best.
“I think Dana is scared to make it happen. I think he doesn’t want to lose his horse in Jon Jones. I love Jon Jones but that is too much of a risk for Dana to take. Francis is one of the baddest, if not the baddest man on the planet. I think Dana is scared and he doesn’t want to do that. MMA fans want that, but Dana never does anything for the fans,” added Paul before saying if Ferreira defeats Ngannou, then he would be the best big man in the game, not Jones.
“It would be a massive upset. That could happen in combat sports. That’s what makes this fight exciting, Ferreira is an insane competitor. He would become the man. He would become the best heavyweight in MMA, but currently Francis Ngannou is the man to beat.”
If you recall, Jones crashed the broadcast during the “PFL vs. Bellator” event earlier this year in Riyadh, sending a message to “The Predator” knowing good and well a fight between them was no longer in the running. Still, “Bones” was given the platform to call out the promotion’s biggest star.
Indeed, Jones’ massive shadow was once again present during today’s PFL presser, which seems to be the norm because despite having only one win — albeit a big one — as a heavyweight, he is considered by many to be best best big man in the game due to the promotion he’s fighting for.
For now, “Bones” has his sights set on Stipe Miocic for a showdown that is supposed to go down later this year, while Tom Aspinall’s efforts of trying to sneak in and steal the fight, or at least to convince Jones to hang around a bit longer, seem to be looking less and less successful.