Francis Ngannou may never step foot in a UFC Octagon again, but he assures MMA fans that the last thing on his mind before leaving the promotion was avoiding Jon Jones.
Nearly a week has passed since Jones took over the heavyweight division in his UFC return, and since then he and Ngannou have remained a topic of conversation.
Once Jones’ arm was raised at UFC 285, Francis Ngannou sent out a tweet which many have considered to be a backhanded compliment.
Good job Jonny Boy
Sincerely,
The heavyweight king— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) March 5, 2023
During the post-fight press conference, Jones had the tweet read to him, and he did not have a kind choice of words for his heavyweight counterpart.
Speaking yesterday with ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, Francis Ngannou said that he is at peace with himself and is not concerned by Jones’ comments because he pursued that matchup before his departure.
“I did everything to have that fight. At the end it just felt like begging to keep me, and maybe do something that I don’t want. Yes I wanted that fight, but not at any cost.”
Ngannou was not amused by Dana White’s public comments stating that he avoided a fight with Jones.
He doubled down on the idea that the sole reason he parted ways with the UFC was due to the promotion failing to meet his contract demands on numerous occasions.
“I don’t care about what Dana White said, that was my call not his call.”
He once again took his thoughts to Twitter with videos of White’s change of heart which Francis Ngannou clearly felt was hypocritical.
Ngannou was seen watching Jones’ return against Ciryl Gane with his family in a positive manner and he says this is because he was simply a viewer just like everyone else, and he did not feel any differently after seeing Jones win.
Speaking with several promotions since his UFC exit, Ngannou said that fans should not look back and ponder at the matchup which never took place.
It seems as though the two colossal figures will never cross paths again, and Francis Ngannou is certain that the last thing on his mind was fearing Jones.
“There is not a fight on earth that I will back down from. He might be the best fighter ever, but he’s not the guy that I’m running away from.”
“I would fight Jon Jones twice a month.”
Although the two may have some unfriendly words for each other going forward, the bout is one that fans will have to look past, as Ngannou has his sights set on a professional debut in the boxing ring.
“I want to do one boxing match first, then maybe go back to MMA.”
Ngannou said that he had spoken to Eddie Hearn about a potential matchup with Anthony Joshua, but the majority of the conversation has been with Deontay Wilder’s team.
He dreams of a massive boxing event in Africa, and did not rule out the possibility of returning to MMA one day, as he also had talks with PFL and ONE FC.
The newly crowned UFC heavyweight champion once again sits atop the pound-for-pound rankings, but Jon Jones may not be here to stay. A three-year hiatus and many new faces and champions in the UFC since Jones vacated his light heavyweight title, did not slow him down from submitting Ciryl Gane in just minutes, a fighter […]
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