Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has reacted to the news that Jon Jones is out of his UFC 295 title defense against Stipe Miocic.
Jones became the UFC’s heavyweight champion back in March as he submitted Ciryl Gane in the first round. The belt was vacant after Ngannou fought out his UFC contract and ended up making it clear he wouldn’t re-sign with the Las Vegas-based promotion. The split with the UFC was not a good one, as Dana White took aim at Ngannou.
Although the split wasn’t pleasant, Francis Ngannou says he isn’t happy to see the UFC lose the big fight as he was excited to watch Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic.
Ngannou not happy to see Jones-Miocic be off
“Well, I think it’s sad news. It’s never good news when athletes get injured. Basically, in training. I hope he recovers well. I was very excited to watch that fight and see who was going to win that fight,” Ngannou said to MMAJunkie… Something like this is not something you can blame to somebody,” Ngannou said. “It’s something that can happen to everybody. It could’ve happened here. It could happen to anybody. I don’t think that’s a part of the decision, but yes. It sucks, though.”
The plan for the UFC, according to Dana White is to have Jon Jones fight Stipe Miocic once ‘Bones’ is healthy from his torn pec. When he does return there have been rumors that this fight will be a retirement fight for both of them.
Replacing Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 will be an interim heavyweight title fight between Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich.
As for Francis Ngannou, he’s set to make his boxing debut against Tyson Fury on Saturday in Saudi Arabia. After that, he will return to MMA with the PFL, as he inked a deal with PFL in free agency.
