As he explained last month to RMC Sport, Francis Ngannou reiterated on Saturday evening his desire to challenge Jon Jones, after having signed a winning return to the cage.
The idea of such a poster is a dream. Winner with the PFL for his return to MMA after three years of absence, Francis Ngannou repeated on Saturday his desire to face Jon Jones, current UFC heavyweight champion.
“I have been asking for this fight for four years or a little more. If I had only one fight to do and I had to choose, it would be this one,” he said at a press conference in the outcome of his quick victory against Renan Ferreira. The 38-year-old Cameroonian had not fought in a cage for exactly 1,000 days and his victory against Frenchman Ciryl Gane to retain his heavyweight belt in the UFC, the most powerful MMA league in the world.
Ngannou’s big goal
But a year later, he left Dana White’s organization with a bang, amid disagreements over his remuneration and that of other fighters, before signing up a few months later with the PFL, the UFC’s main rival. . His vacant heavyweight title was then regained by American Jon Jones, considered one of the greatest fighters in the history of mixed martial arts. With Ngannou clinching the PFL “Superfight” belt on Saturday, many fans are now hoping for a clash between the champions of the two organizations.
“This is the fight everyone wants to see,” PFL boss Donn Davis said Thursday. “Whoever comes out of this fight will be the world No. 1 heavyweight. Whoever wants to claim the No. 1 place must go through this fight. So whoever wants to claim this position had better call us after Saturday,” had – he launched.
In an exclusive interview given to RMC Sport last month, Ngannou had already proclaimed his desire to challenge Jones rather than Tom Aspinall or Alex Pereira: “There is no match. Let’s not be stupid, even if they are all champions , let’s still give Jon Jones what he deserves, even if he’s a bit of an idiot sometimes.”
