Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones is the matchup everyone desires. Particularly Ngannou and the PFL.
On Saturday, Ngannou responded to a tweet from Jones by which the UFC heavyweight champion defiantly addressed critics who’ve accused him of avoiding interim champion Tom Aspinall.
Ngannou appeared to help Jones, however added that there’s nonetheless one huge combat for him on the market that might vastly enhance his legacy.
“Blessings make haters uncomfortable, however they’ll’t change it,” Ngannou wrote. “There’s just one combat, the suitable combat that may multiply your blessings.”
Ngannou capped off his assertion with a hashtag studying, “Ngannou vs. Jones.”
The PFL star echoes the sentiment of league CEO Peter Murray, who spoke to talkSPORT MMA throughout Friday’s 2024 PFL World Championships occasion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Murray was requested if it’s doable for Jones to sometime combat Ngannou, the PFL heavyweight champion. Ngannou and Jones teased the opportunity of a matchup when each have been on the UFC roster, however Ngannou vacated his UFC title and parted methods with the promotion in 2023 to signal with PFL and pursue boxing matches, whereas Jones later made the transfer from gentle heavyweight to heavyweight the place he has received a pair of championship bouts.
Nonetheless, the considered Ngannou and Jones—No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, within the MMA Combating International Rankings—sharing the cage stays a tantalizing one, and Murray would find it irresistible if UFC was prepared to play ball along with his league.
“We’re supportive of it,” Murray stated of the Ngannou vs. Jones bout. “The fighters need the combat, Jon Jones desires the combat, Francis desires the combat, we wish the combat, our companions right here in Saudi need the combat. It actually comes right down to does UFC wish to step as much as it or not? Interval.”
The UFC has staunchly prevented cross-promotion previously, with the notable exception of the huge Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing bout in August 2017, that noticed Dana White and firm be a part of forces with the boxing legend’s Mayweather Promotions to assist facilitate the matchup. It didn’t damage that the UFC obtained a substantial share of the earnings from the huge crossover combat.
Whereas Ngannou vs. Jones is unlikely to achieve these heights—thus making it unlikely the UFC ever considers a PFL partnership—Murray remains to be happy with Ngannou’s time with the league up to now. Ngannou’s contract permits him to compete in boxing bouts and he signed on for enormous matchups with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua earlier than making his PFL debut this previous October.
Ngannou efficiently rebounded from a knockout loss to Joshua with a thudding KO of Ferreira at PFL’s Battle of the Giants occasion. The victory got here six months after the demise of Ngannou’s toddler son, Kobe.
“He’s simply an unimaginable human and an amazing fighter and what an incredible accomplice,” Murray stated. “That combat in opposition to Renan Ferreira, it was actually, in Francis’s phrases, greater than a combat for him. He stored issues shifting after extraordinary tragedy in his life, dropping his son, and that was Francis’ determination to come back again into the cage and he was directing his power. I used to be very joyful for him.”
