Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou is nothing more than a pipe dream after “The Predator” signed with the PFL this past week.
There have been several incredible fantasy matchups fans have wanted to see throughout MMA history, but the argument can be made that there’s never been one bigger (literally) than Jones vs. Ngannou. After an entire decade of teasing a move to heavyweight, the reigning UFC light heavyweight kingpin Jones made the transition official after a less-than-stellar second title run from 2018 to 2020.
Jones took time away to build himself up and a lot happened during his three-year hiatus, not only in his personal life but in the MMA landscape. Primarily, Ngannou became the heavyweight champion with a thunderous knockout of his past roadblock and legendary champion Stipe Miocic, opening the floodgates for talk of him vs. Jones. Unfortunately, several business aspects and crumbled negotiations prevented the fight from happening and instead saw both men earn title victories over Ciryl Gane in their most recent appearances.
While Jones was away from active competition, he started working with some new faces for brief periods like former two-division champion Henry Cejudo. Ultimately, “Triple C” doesn’t think the fight is a big deal for “Bones’” already established legacy in the sport.
“Getting a chance to know Jon, I don’t think Jon really cares,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t think Jon needs a guy like Francis Ngannou to be able to say that he is the greatest of all-time. The reality is Jon doesn’t need any of those guys.
“The guy he probably does want to beat is the greatest heavyweight of all-time, his name is Stipe Miocic. At the end of the day, people will look at the credentials, people will look at the numbers, and people will see that Stipe Miocic is the baddest heavyweight on the roster in UFC history. Numbers don’t lie. As a matter of fact, he has a win over Francis Ngannou … a domination that he had for five rounds.”
Jones vs. Miocic appears to be the direction the promotion is headed next despite it not coming together for the originally targeted July 8 date at UFC 290. Jones has been very vocal about his reasons for wanting to fight the former two-time heavyweight titleholder, which was essentially summarized by Cejudo.
Miocic is the record-holder for most consecutive UFC heavyweight title defenses with three and most overall with four. Whenever the proud Ohian returns, he’ll end a layoff that dates back to his Ngannou rematch in March 2021.
Meanwhile, Ngannou gets set to embark on the next chapter of his career with PFL, where his MMA debut is anticipated for 2024. Outside of the cage, Cameroon’s finest will also be occupying new roles as PFL Africa chairman and seeking his professional boxing debut. In the grand scheme, Cejudo too fancies himself a businessman and entrepreneur, seeing some intriguing MMA possibilities from here on out.
“Where the hell is PFL getting all this money?” Cejudo said. “Signing Jake Paul, signing him (Ngannou), million dollar tournaments, I know Kayla Harrison’s making crazy, crazy money as a female — the most other than Ronda Rousey and maybe even more so, the most paid women’s athlete of all-time.
“Is this the start of the collaboration of Bellator vs. UFC, PFL vs. the UFC, ONE Championship vs. Bellator? Are we opening up new doors that have never truly been opened? Is Bellator, PFL, ONE Championship — even if the UFC doesn’t get involved — are they willing to kind of cross that road? There’s a lot of questions to be answered or to be asked.”