The Thanksgiving holiday weekend has been a light one for the sport of MMA in terms of fights taking place. Other than the PFL World Championships taking place Friday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it’s been a slow few days. While most of America was sitting down to break bread at the dinner table, the UFC Heavyweight Champion was on X (formerly Twitter) to give thanks on the holiday.
Crazy how being called a ‘duck’ pays better than most of you Internet tough guys will make in a lifetime. Two fights in four years and still one of the biggest names in the sport? That’s not ducking, that’s winning. God’s blessings hit different, stay mad.
— Jonny Meat (@JonnyBones) November 29, 2024
In the aftermath of Jones sending Stipe Miocic (20-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC into retirement on the night of Nov. 16 during the UFC 309 main event from Madison Square Garden in New York City, Jones has been accused by fans of avoiding fights against high-profile adversaries. “Bones” (28-1, 1 NC MMA, 22-1, 1 NC UFC) was having none of it in his Thanksgiving Night tweet.
“Two fights in four years and still one of the biggest names in the sport?”, Jones pondered on the social media platform. “That’s not ducking, that’s winning. God’s blessings hit different, stay mad.”
Enter Francis Ngannou?
Friday, after the PFL MENA Championships in Saudi Arabia, PFL CEO Peter Murray discussed the pact that the organization and Francis Ngannou (18-3 MMA, 1-0 PFL) entered into earlier this year. During the PFL’s Oct. 19 Battle of The Giants pay-per-view, “The Predator” stopped Renan Ferreira (13-4, 3 NC MMA, 7-2, 3 NC PFL) by way of first-round knockout due to ground and pound shots in the headlining affair.
“He’s just an incredible human, a tremendous fighter, and what a great partner,” began Murray in an interview with United Kingdom outlet TalkSport. “That fight against Renan Ferreira, that was more than a fight for him, he kept things moving after the extraordinary tragedy in his life, losing his son, and that was Francis’ decision to come back to the cage.”
Ngannou appears game for a potential contest against Jon Jones. Earlier on Saturday afternoon, Ngannou took to his Twitter account to reply to “Bones” in a quote tweet.
Blessings make haters uncomfortable, but they can't change it.
There's only one fight, the right fight that will multiply your blessings.#NgannouVSJones https://t.co/7HhNDM4OD6— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) November 30, 2024
Murray: “The Fighters Want the Fight”
When asked about the possibility of a Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou crossover fight, Murray laid down the gauntlet.
“Yeah, I mean we’re supportive of it,” he continued on Friday evening. “The fighters want the fight, Jon Jones wants the fight, Francis [Ngannou] wants the fight, we want the fight, our partners here in Saudi want the fight. It really comes down to [a question of] does the UFC want to step up to it or not? Period.”
Therein lies the crux of the issue. Even thought Jones and Ngannou are eager to square off against one another in a potential super fight, Dana White‘s promotion is the one and only obstacle here.
UFC’s Stubbornness Might Keep This Fight From Becoming Reality
Back in 2017, the UFC teamed up with Mayweather Promotions, enabling Conor McGregor to square off against boxing stalwart Floyd Mayweather in the main event of a pay-per-view live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Mayweather bested McGregor in the highly-publicized fight by way of 10th-round TKO.
Given the fact that this contest in the summer of 2017 was a co-promoted event between the UFC and Mayweather Promotions, Dana White’s organization received a percentage of the monies that the card grossed that evening. At the time of the fight between McGregor and Mayweather, the former was arguably the biggest attraction in the sport of MMA.
Mayweather left retirement behind to put an undefeated 49-0 record at risk to face McGregor that summer night and. despite his controversies away from the ring, remains a boxing legend. When it comes to a potential super fight between Ngannou and Jones, the UFC will, in all probability, not collaborate with the PFL on the fight.
Ngannou split with the UFC at the outset of 2023 with the expiry of his deal with the promotion, 12 months after sustaining a knee injury during UFC 270 versus Ciryl Gane. If Dana White’s comments from October are any indication, the wounds have not healed.
“Nobody wants to fight in the (expletive deleted) PFL except for Francis,” White said.
