Francis Ngannou's dramatic departure from the UFC had a lot to do with negotiations surrounding a fight with now-heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
When Ngannou announced his signing with the Professional Fighters League, it was made known that he still very much wanted to fight Jones and the PFL was open to cross-promoting a fight with the UFC. The UFC wasn't as eager and now Ngannou says he's all but given up on the idea of the fight ever happening.
"I don't know," Ngannou told DAZN News when asked about the super fight. "I know that is a fight that I've wanted, and I hope someday happens, but I am not holding my breath over anything, because otherwise I think I won't succeed. I will pass out."
Right now there's a big logjam in the UFC's heavyweight division due to Jones wanting to fight former UFC champion Stipe Miocic and not Tom Aspinall, the interim champion. Many fans and fellow fighters have criticized Jones for holding up the division for a legacy fight that could end in both fighters retiring at the night's end. Ngannou is not one of those people, he appears to support Jones' decision to fight Miocic and even wonders if the narrative the fans are being fed is accurate.
"I don't know if that's even the true version," Ngannou said of Jones waiting for Miocic and refusing to fight Aspinall. "You know, because we are in the game that one person carries a message and controls the narrative, and they will tell whatever he wants to tell.
"Unless [Jon Jones] said, 'I'm in fear of the interim champion' or 'I don't want to fight' I will not believe anything. But I also think he's at the point where he can choose the fight that he will make. And for a good reason, he had a fight lined up with Stipe that got postponed. So you can understand that he wants that fight first before he looks at the landscape and decides what he wants."
Ngannou is scheduled to fight the PFL 2023 heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira on Oct. 10 for his PFL debut, live on DAZN.
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