Chael Sonnen, the former UFC fighter and current MMA analyst, has stepped in to clear up the confusion around the much-discussed superfight between Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou. Despite popular belief, Sonnen says the blame for the fight not happening doesn’t lie with UFC President Dana White, but rather with Ngannou himself.
After leaving the UFC, Ngannou pursued other ventures, including boxing matches with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He also joined the PFL, where he became heavyweight champion after defeating Renan Ferreira.
While Ngannou has no intention of returning to the UFC, he still believes a potential superfight with Jon Jones could happen. In a recent interview, Ngannou suggested that Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, could help facilitate the fight by convincing Dana White to collaborate with the PFL.
But according to Sonnen, the key to understanding why the fight never happened is all in the timing. He pointed out that Dana White had made it clear that when Jon Jones moved to heavyweight, it would be for a title fight.
“It was an open statement that Jon will contend whenever Jon comes back, if he ever comes back, right into a world title fight. That happened to be Francis,” Sonnen explained. “And what happened next? Jon came back. So now we have Jon, and we have Francis, and we’re going to get to see Jon versus Francis. People are talking about it. You’re talking about it. Dana’s already announced it’s going to happen.”
Sonnen on Ngannou’s Departure and the Fight That Never Happened
Sonnen firmly believes that Dana White followed through on his promise. The problem, according to Sonnen, came when Ngannou left the UFC, removing himself from the position where he could fight Jones for the title.
Sonnen made it clear:
“The only thing stopping this fight now is Francis leaving. It’s not Dana White, it’s not Jon Jones.”
Sonnen’s perspective flips the narrative. Instead of blaming White for blocking the fight, he argues that it was Ngannou’s own decision to leave that prevented the long-awaited matchup from taking place.
“Poor Francis was in a world title fight, in the fight capital of the world, in the world’s biggest promotion, where he is going to headline. He was not the champion of the world. He wanted to be. He was going to be given that opportunity. Do you understand? Okay. Because it was at that time that it had already been announced by Dana White, this giant obstacle, that when Jon Jones returns to heavyweight, it will be for the belt.”
Sonnen continued, explaining how Ngannou wasn’t the champion when the plan for the superfight was set in motion:
“So now we don’t, now we don’t only have an obstacle, it doesn’t even fully have to do with Francis. Francis didn’t even have the belt. He was scheduled to fight Stipe, a fight that Francis had already lost. Like, we didn’t know who the champion was going to be, but whoever it was going to be, we were going to stick to the deal and the plan that when Jon comes up, Jon will contest with that person. It’s important that you understand that, because that one detail, in and of itself, that timeline excludes the possibility that Francis was being picked on.”
For Sonnen, the timeline is key to understanding how the fight came to be—and how it ultimately failed to materialize.
“It was an open statement that Jon will contend whenever Jon comes back, if he ever comes back, right into a world title fight. That happened to be Francis.”
Sonnen also made it clear that Dana White followed through with his plan, and “Dana went through with the plan exactly as he had previously stated, which is that Jon went right into a title fight.”
Sonnen’s take is simple:
“But somebody blinked. That somebody, I would view to be the obstacle in this equation. Do you agree? Because that somebody was not Dana White. That somebody was not Jon Jones. As a matter of fact, Dana White went through with the plan exactly as he had previously stated, which is that Jon went right into a title fight. And it’s important that you understand this, because Francis left. So to make believe now that you wanted to do something, when you were in a position to do it, and so now the only thing stopping this fight is Dana White.”
Ngannou, for his part, has maintained that he still wants the fight and that a potential cross-promotion deal could make it happen. However, Sonnen’s explanation highlights how the timeline and decisions made by the fighters have played a crucial role in shaping the current situation.
