Francis Ngannou says the Jon Jones fight was never a real finish line in front of him. In his view, it was a useful talking point during contract tension with the UFC, not a matchup that had actually been lined up to happen.
That matters because the sport spent years treating Ngannou vs. Jones like a heavyweight lock waiting for paperwork. Ngannou was the reigning knockout monster. Jones was teasing his move up. Fans saw the biggest possible fight. Ngannou says the promotion saw leverage.
“Disappoint me? No,” Ngannou told ESPN. “It was never really on the table, so I don’t have to be disappointed. The only time that he seems like a possibility was when he was used as bait, something to bait me.”
The timeline explains why he sees it that way. Ngannou beat Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 while fighting through a damaged knee, then pushed for a better deal and the freedom to box. The UFC did not give him that. He left in early 2023, the heavyweight belt was vacated, and Jones won the title without facing him.
Ngannou says the problem was fairness, not contracts
Ngannou also made clear that he was not refusing to sign on principle. His issue was whether the deal was fair and whether both sides were actually getting what they were supposed to get out of it.
“Listen, I have no problem with contracts,” Ngannou said. “I have a problem with the way that the contract is being used. I still sign a contract, even if it’s not fighting. I’m a businessman, so I understand the concept of contract, which is an agreement between two people that have to assure they deliver something. Now, if we both deliver whatever is agreed on in the contract, I see no reason for us to keep doing business. In fact, when you sign a good contract, you want to get your partner happy, to maybe re-sign. Like, OK, this has been such a good partnership, why not re-sign? Why not re-do this? We are winning together, why not continue?”
“So I really don’t have a problem with a contract itself. When I sign a contract, I make sure that I deliver. I honor my part of the contract. So I don’t have problem with the contract. Bring me the contract, I look at it. If it’s right, I sign. It has to be right and fair, that’s all that I’m saying.”
Ngannou is now set to face Philipe Lins on May 16 at the Rousey vs. Carano card on Netflix. Even with that fight booked, he still pointed back to Jones as the one matchup he would choose before retiring.
“Jon Jones is the fight that I really want to have before my retirement,” Ngannou said. “But other than that, it could be anybody, I don’t care. As long as it’s a fight.”
“I’m not saying it’s a fight that would define my career or something, but if I had to pick, OK let’s do this one and go home, then it would be Jon Jones,” he added.
That leaves the story exactly where fans have hated leaving it for years. One of the biggest heavyweight fights the sport could make is still sitting there as unfinished business, and Ngannou is saying it never got close to becoming real in the first place.
