The mixed martial arts (MMA) world lost its collective mind when it appeared there was a possibility to see Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones in 2023.
Unfortunately for everyone, that fight didn’t get too close to materializing. Instead, Ngannou departed Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) entirely while he was still holding the Heavyweight title. The title’s vacancy led to Jones claiming the throne with a first round guillotine choke over Ciryl Gane (watch highlights) in March 2023.
Despite Ngannou’s move to Professional Fighters League (PFL), there have been brief continued teases from the promotion about wanting to set up the dream match up. However, it’s very unlikely to happen and former three-time UFC Heavyweight champion-turned-PFL commentator, Randy Couture, believes he knows why.
“I know the UFC’s got too big [of] an ego to let that happen,” Couture told MMA Fighting. “That’s why the Fedor [Emelianenko] fight never happened [for me]. Because M-1 wanted to do a co-promotion and the UFC’s never going to let that happen.
“I don’t see the champ in the UFC ever getting a shot at fighting the champ from PFL or any other organization for that matter, and that’s unfortunate,” he concluded. “That’s a shame that the fans are never going to get to see those type of matchups. That’s one of the flaws and issues in our sport right now.”
In reference to his would-be fight against Emelianenko, the proposed megafight was one of the biggest in MMA that never happened. Sometimes, things just aren’t meant to be for one reason or another and the Heavyweight division has historically accrued more of these instances than fight fans would like. Maybe we’ll at least get lucky with Jones vs. Tom Aspinall as UFC CEO, Dana White, optimistically expects.