Francis Ngannou has clapped back at Tom Aspinall after the UFC interim heavyweight champion took aim at his level of opposition.
The Cameroonian faces off with Renan Ferreira on Saturday night in his first MMA fight since leaving the UFC with the heavyweight title in 2023. He has since been boxing at the top level, losing a razor-close decision to then-WBC and lineal champion Tyson Fury before being stopped by Anthony Joshua.
In the meantime, the UFC have created a logjam at the top of their heavyweight division, with Aspinall and Jon Jones both holding legitimate claims to the belt. But neither were able to beat the lineal champion Ngannou, so discussions rage as to who is truly the best in the world.
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Tom Aspinall believes Francis Ngannou no longer faces ‘elite’ competition since UFC exit
Since leaving the UFC, there has been a lot of intrigue surrounding Francis Ngannou and his future in the cage. His boxing outings, particularly against Fury, added to the mythology surrounding his status atop the sport.
However, Tom Aspinall believes he can’t hold claim to the heavyweight lineal title if he is not competing in the sport’s biggest promotion. The Brit doesn’t believe that 2023 PFL champion Ferreira qualifies as elite, and reckons it’s a second-rate fight.
“I have a lot of respect for Francis and I really appreciate his story,” Aspinall said on The Ariel Helwani Show yesterday. “But it’s hard to debate right now [because] the guy he’s fighting is not elite and the guys he’ll be fighting in the future aren’t elite – it’s as simple as that.
“These aren’t the best guys in the world. The guy he’s fighting fought a friend of mine, a training partner of mine [called] Ante Delija last year and Ante just destroyed him in a minute or two. Just took him down, ground-and-pound, and stopped him in a minute; and now this guy’s fighting Francis Ngannou?
“The guy isn’t elite; yeah, he’s big, yeah, he’s powerful, and yeah, he can knock you out but he’s not an elite heavyweight… I’m not disrespecting him, but the elite guys aren’t in PFL, the elite guys are in the UFC.”
Francis Ngannou claims Renan Ferreira beats both Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones
However, Ngannou strongly disagrees with the assessment, in fact believing that Ferreira might beat the UFC’s top names. There is an often-discussed hypothetical of putting two fighters in a room and only allowing one to leave that is supposed to decide who is the toughest and best in a division.
And the former UFC champion reckons that if Ferreira entered a room with Aspinall and Jones, he would be the one walking out. “That’s just his opinion,” Ngannou told Bloody Elbow exclusively when asked about the Brit’s comments.
“Why should I be caring about people’s opinions, the only opinion that matters here is mine. My opinion is that Renan Ferreira is a very tough opponent, maybe in MMA if I have to compare the challenge that he’s bringing to someone it might be Stipe Miocic.
“People can claim different things, but I think if they put all the heavyweights in the room and closed the door, I believe Renan Ferreira would be among the guys surviving.”