Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou is a very possible fight if the UFC is willing to bend a little to make it happen, says Ngannou coach Eric Nicksick.
Francis Ngannou’s coach still believes there’s a good chance his star pupil could end up fighting Jon Jones in the future.
Ngannou is set to face Renan Ferreira on October 19th in what will be “The Predator’s” first MMA fight since leaving the UFC in 2022. Jones is expected to defend his UFC heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic in November. If both make it past those tests, XTreme Couture coach Eric Nicksick sees a superfight being made with the help of Saudi Arabia.
“I’m very optimistic when it comes to these things,” Nicksick said in an interview with MMA Junkie. “And I think money talks, you know, and you get the right people behind you.”
“Obviously we have a good relationship with Saudi [Arabia], and I know Dana and UFC are working well with Saudi, so money talks. No disrespect to Dana, but he has a boss as well. So somebody tells [him], ‘Hey man, this is a lot of money. We’re taking this. Set your ego aside.’”
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1?Gigantic night of MMAand it all goes down on October 19th #PFLSuperFights pic.twitter.com/mDHCFd6PBp
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“I think Dana is in a position where he wants to make the best fights, and he’s not going to let his ego or any past history take advantage of that. If he feels that Jon Jones is the best to ever do it, then absolutely, put your best guy forward and give us the opportunity to see if we can dethrone that man.”
The UFC has been cagey about doing co-promoted events, and we doubt they’d go ahead with a PFL event even if it’s something Saudi Arabia pushes. Thus far the promotion has been careful not to give the Kingdom bigger cards than longtime investor Abu Dhabi. If those rules still apply, then competition rules probably do too.
But Nicksick is right: things do change when the right amount of dollars get thrown into the mix. Conor McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather, so perhaps Jon Jones can fight Francis Ngannou … if “Bones” has any desire to keep fighting after November, which is certainly a real question at this point.