Talk of Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou facing off inside the UFC Octagon has returned to the surface.
Jones’ reluctance to fight Tom Aspinall has left many expecting an imminent retirement announcement from the UFC heavyweight champion.
But it would seem that one “super-fight” could still motivate him.
Coach Eric Nicksick recently expressed his hope for Ngannou to return to the UFC down the line, and it didn’t take long for Jones to take notice and reignite talk of a clash with ‘The Predator’.
Jones wants a “clash of champions” with Ngannou, but by all accounts, he could have had exactly that five years ago if it wasn’t for one request branded “absurd” by Dana White.
Dana White claimed Jon Jones wanted ‘Deontay Wilder money’ to fight Francis Ngannou
In May 2020, a year before Ngannou knocked out Stipe Miocic to become heavyweight king, Jones began to tease a fight with the Cameroonian powerhouse.
‘Bones’ was coming off a narrow defense of his light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes and had decided to pursue two-division glory up at heavyweight.
But for his first fight in that division to be against Ngannou, Jones wanted to be handsomely rewarded.
During an interview with ESPN, Dana White shut down talk of Jones facing Ngannou, claiming the light heavyweight legend was demanding an “absurd” figure to step in the cage with ‘The Predator’.
“For the amount of money he’s asking for, it’s not going to happen,” White said. “He couldn’t be asking for a more absurd amount of money at a worse time.
“We have text messages from Jon Jones. It’s not like I can’t prove that what I’m saying is true because we have text messages.
“I’ll quote him on what he said. He said, ‘I want what Deontay Wilder made against Tyson Fury,’” White claimed.
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Jon Jones called Dana White a ‘liar’ after failed negotiations for the Francis Ngannou fight
That period marked one of the times during Jones’ career when his relationship with the UFC and White was fractured.
And the then-pound-for-pound king didn’t take kindly to White’s public claim, branding him a liar for it while hitting back in a fiery tweet.
“Don’t be a f–king liar, my reputation has already [taken] enough hits,” Jones wrote. “I don’t need this bulls–t Dana. I never asked for [Deontay] Wilder‘s numbers. And how about since [Deontay] is making 30 million, we settle for half of that. Since you said I’m the goat and everything.”
Among a host of other posts, Jones called the UFC boss “stubborn and greedy.”
When Ngannou became champion in 2021, White advised Jones to avoid the bout, even jokingly suggesting that a middleweight move would be more wise than challenging the knockout artist.
But the UFC CEO later attempted to change that narrative when Ngannou left the promotion as champion in early 2023. He has since blamed the now-PFL star for the collapse of the Jones fight.