Last night, the Professional Fighters League hosted arguably the biggest and most successful event in their history; the 2024 Championship finals, in which six divisional kings and queens were crowned.
Yet as the New Year looms large over the horizon, there’s an enormous fantasy heavyweight showdown that the PFL would love to see come together in 2025: of course, we’re talking about Bones vs The Predator.
PFL CEO calls on the UFC to ‘step up’ and make Jones vs Ngannou
Speaking to Adam Catterall via TalkSport MMA, just as the PFL Mena showcase fights wrapped up, CEO Peter Murray would celebrate the promotion’s partnership with Francis Ngannou, who heads up the ‘PFL Africa’ regional league next year.
“He’s just an incredible human, a tremendous fighter and what a great partner – 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.
“He was directing his energy, listen, I was very happy for him, and we haven’t seen the last of Renan [either]. He’ll have more to come next year and Renan will be able to show the world what he can really do… He’ll get the opportunity to go to the Champions Series.”
The 2024 PFL Championships arrived just a few weeks after Jon ‘Bones’ Jones defended his UFC heavyweight title with a vicious third-round knockout of Stipe Miocic at Madison Square Garden.
Following Bones’ KO win, Ngannou would write on social media: “Jones looked great out there tonight, congrats Jonny boy. I see you.”
Considering the scale of that super-fight, both in terms of promotion and revenue, it’s no surprise that the PFL would jump at the chance to put Jones vs Ngannou together – although Murray noted that there’s only one party blocking such a showdown being made.
“Yeah, I mean we’re supportive of it. The fighters want the fight, Jon Jones wants the fight, Francis wants the fight, we want the fight, our partners here in Saudi want the fight.
“It comes down to, does the UFC want to step up to it or not, period.”
Francis Ngannou backs Jon Jones’ decision not to face Tom Aspinall
In the aftermath of UFC 309, there’s been significant backlash to Jon Jones suggesting that he could vacate the heavyweight title, rather than facing interim champion Tom Aspinall next.
Whilst many within the global MMA community resent that suggestion, Francis Ngannou actually believes that Jones is well within his right to demand anyone but Aspinall.
“I think this is about a negotiation situation here that we don’t know the ups and downs and I think he’s in the position to claim what he wants,” Ngannou told TMZ Sports last week.
“As he has said, Aspinall needs that fight, [Jones] doesn’t need it. And when you look at it, it’s pretty much true… There’s nothing that he’s going to make in that fight other than money but for Aspinall, that will be everything.”
Bloody Elbow recently caught up with Tom Aspinall to discuss the situation.