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Add former UFC double champion Henry Cejudo to the list of people who do not believe Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou will ever face each other in a fight. However, unlike many, ‘Triple C’ does not necessarily see it as a bad thing. In fact, he thinks quite the opposite.
Does Jon Jones even care about Francis Ngannou?
Cejudo’s opinion may sound surprising at first, but the former champion does have some reasoning to support his claim. Since Jones has already all the best names of his generation in the light heavyweight division and won the belt at heavyweight with an easy victory over Ciryl Gane, Triple C does not think ‘Bones’ needs to prove himself against Ngannou.
In fact, if Jones can defeat the former champion with the most title defenses in the heavyweight division in Stipe Miocic, Cejudo sees no reason for Bones to even care about fighting Ngannou. In fact, Triple C feels like Jones may not even stick around for that long before he may even consider facing the ‘Predator’ again.
“I don’t think Jon really cares,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “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. But the guy that he probably does want to beat, he does want to beat the greatest heavyweight of all time. His name is Stipe Miocic.”
“I don’t believe they’ll ever fight,” Cejudo said. “I really don’t. I do believe that Jon wants to exit out. He’s got maybe one more fight and then you’ve got to pull him out of retirement once again because he wants to leave as king and he wants to leave up top.”
Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou provoked each other on Twitter
Once Francis Ngannou’s deal with the Professional Fighters League was reported, Jon Jones took to Twitter to tease the Predator about his decision to leave the promotion without facing Bones first.
Ngannou, of course, fired back with a tweet of his own. In the post, the Predator mentioned that if Jones wanted to face him, all he had to was sign a deal with the PFL. Bones was quick to turn the offer down with another tweet, saying the need to fight in the UFC if Ngannou wants the match to happen.
Both athletes have left their mark in the UFC
Most recently, Jon Jones (17-1-1 NC) became the UFC heavyweight champion when he defeated Ciryl Gane via submission, back in March of this year. The win extended his streak to 18 straight, with a No Contest against Daniel Cormier in the middle. The 35-year-old’s only loss is still a DQ defeat due to 12-6 elbows against Matt Hamill, in December 2009.
Though his fight against Stipe Miocic has been rumored for this year, the promotion has not yet confirmed a date or location for Jones’ potential first title defense.
Meanhwile, Francis Ngannou signed a lucrative deal with the Professional Fighters League after leaving the UFC in 2022. For now, the Predator awaits his first opponent while also keeping the doors open for boxing matches. During his time in the UFC, the 36-year-old scored wins over some of the heavyweight division’s most notable names, including Stipe Miocic, Ciryl Gane, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, among others.
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