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Andreas Hale, ESPN
Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou wants to make one perfectly thing clear ahead of his PFL debut against Renan Ferreira: He never ducked a fight with Jon Jones.
During a news conference for the Battle of the Giants PFL Super Fight event on Oct. 19, Ngannou addressed UFC CEO Dana White’s repeated statements that the Jones fight never came together because the former champion “didn’t want the fight.”
“That’s the new narrative,” said Ngannou, who will compete in MMA for the first time in 2½ years when he faces Ferreira. “[Dana White] had to say something. As far as I’m concerned, Jon Jones didn’t want to fight me, according to [the UFC]. So many times we sat down to make the fight and they said, ‘Oh it can’t happen, Jon Jones doesn’t want to fight anymore.'”
Ngannou’s final fight in the UFC was in defense of his undisputed heavyweight championship against Ciryl Gane in January 2022. Following his unanimous decision victory, Ngannou was sidelined with a knee injury that required surgery as talks of a potential superfight with then-light heavyweight champion Jones began to surface. However, Ngannou and the UFC couldn’t come to terms on a new deal after the champion’s contract expired in December of that year.
Ngannou was stripped of the title in January 2023 and became an unrestricted free agent shortly after. Jones has since become the UFC heavyweight champion by defeating Gane for the vacant title in March 2023.
“The guy who controls the narrative can say what he wants,” Ngannou said of the failed negotiations. “But that’s not the narrative. I requested the Jon Jones fight. But I didn’t want it to be a trap to get into a new deal with the UFC that I didn’t want.”
Ngannou signed a multifight deal with the PFL in May 2023 and had the option to pursue his interest in boxing. In October 2023, Ngannou competed in his first boxing match against then-WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Ngannou lost a controversial split decision but shocked the world when he managed to knock Fury down in the third round. Ngannou’s next outing in boxing was a knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in March 2024.
The former undisputed UFC champion said he is still interested in pursuing fights in boxing, including a potential rematch with Fury, who faces Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch on Dec. 21, 2024. For now, his primary focus is his return to MMA against Ferreira on Oct. 19.