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Former UFC heavyweight champion and recent PFL signee Francis Ngannou believes his former employers have been out to get him. “The Predator” recently spoke with Mirror Fighting where he touched on the said issue, along with questions about potential high-profile boxing matches about Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.
Francis Ngannou speaks about his ongoing feud with UFC
Ngannou and the UFC have been butting heads for the last year and a half now, something that the MMA public has seen and followed. And even upon the Cameroonian’s signing with PFL in May, he claims that his former employers are still after him, given how UFC president Dana White in particular is now considering making a fight between Fury and current heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
“(Me vs. Fury) was never an idea when I was in the UFC and now that I’m not in the UFC I think that everything is all about ‘how to take down Ngannou’, but Ngannou stands up. I’m going to be here for a while!”
Ngannou was then asked about the differences between White and PFL CEO Peter Murray. He gave an easy and direct response.
“Do you need me to talk about it? The relationship here is different, healthy, respectful. Do you understand that I got almost everything that I have been fighting for? I got that, what kind of difference do you want?”
Francis Ngannou gives update on potential boxing fights
As far as his talked-about boxing matches go, Francis Ngannou says things are in motion. Regarding the Fury fight, he says their camps are still in talks despite the supposed offer of a hybrid bout between “The Gypsy King” and Jon Jones.
“It’s always what I wanted,” Ngannou said. “But apparently Tyson Fury’s pretty good at bouncing here and there, I don’t know exactly. But I am here and I want to fight, whenever he really wants it I’m here.
“It’s been like three years that we’ve been going back-and-forth on social media so I would be very happy to take that fight.
“I have seen a lot of comments from Tyson Fury at this point of things I’m a little confused! I don’t know if he enjoys doing comments or enjoys fighting, at this point but as I’ve said I am here and I am ready and my team have been working on getting in touch with him and his team which so far we are not there yet but we are in conversation.”
As for the Wilder bout, Francis Ngannou expects negotiations to go either way, whether it ends up in a boxing ring or MMA cage as previously proposed.
“It’s something that can happen anywhere,” he said of the potential Wilder bout. “He would be good in the smart cage for PFL and in MMA.
“On the boxing side we’re going to figure it out because we were talking about one boxing one MMA and I’m not really sure if that’s the smoke that he wants but I’m open to give him two boxing fights!
“It’s going to be very challenging for me but that’s what I want. I would like to have one of those big names now but there are options because I am not thinking about just having one boxing fight.”
If none of these options pan out, Ngannou says he is open to a warm-up fight, much to the disagreement of some of his fellow fighters.
“There is also an option if something doesn’t work out that I do, maybe a warm-up fight or something to get a feel of it, but I’m interested in all of it. The goal of taking a fight like that would be to get to the next big fight.”
Francis Ngannou finally gets face-to-face with Jon Jones
During a recent PFL event, Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones finally got a chance to have a face-to-face conversation after years of smack talk. Here, “Bones” admitted to sitting out the last three years to allow him to “get to a good enough size.”
Francis Ngannou, who turns 36 in September, isn’t expected to see action until 2024. As for Jones, he is looking forward to a fight against former champion Stipe Miocic later in the year, which he also sees as a possible retirement fight.
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