Henry Cejudo is not optimistic about the chances of seeing Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones.
If there is one fight in the heavyweight division that fans were dying to see it is former UFC champion Francis Ngannou against current champion Jon Jones. Back in 2020, Jones decided to leave the light heavyweight division and make his move to heavyweight. At the time Ngannou was the champion but later decided to leave in search of new and more exciting opportunities. Now Jones is the champion and although they are not the same organization anymore, with Ngannou signing with PFL, they are still calling each other out.
These two have been going back and forth on social media for a while now. Jones was accusing Ngannou of running scared, Ngannou is still open to fighting Jones somewhere down the line, however, it seems unlikely that this pair ever grace the Octagon or the cage together.
Henry Cejudo does not believe fans will ever see Jon Jones take on Francis Ngannou in cross-promotion or otherwise
Henry Cejudo is a former UFC champion who left the UFC in retirement. He most recently made his return but lost his championship bout to Aljamain Sterling. During his retirement, he spent a lot of time training some of the best in the UFC, including Jones. He got to know Jones pretty well and now thinks he can see just why Jones is less than eager to make the fight happen.
“I don’t think Jon really cares. I don’t think Jon needs a guy like Francis Ngannou to say that he is, you know, the greatest of all time,” he said on YouTube. “The reality is Jon doesn’t need any of those guys, you know, but the guy that he probably does want to beat, he does want to beat the greatest heavyweight of all time. His name is Stipe Miocic.
Cejudo is said to have one of the best minds in MMA game planning and like most fans would be very excited to see this bout between these two monster heavyweights, however, is less than optimistic. He thinks Jones will fight one more time against former champion Stipe Miocic and then retire from the sport.
“You know, I don’t believe they ever fight,” he said. “I really don’t. I do believe that Jon wants to exit out. He’s got maybe one more fight and then you got to pull him out of retirement once again because he wants to leave as king and he wants to leave up top.”
Jones is often regarded as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. It seems at this point a fight would benefit Ngannou a lot more than it would benefit Jones. Jones may leave the UFC after his next fight but could have many opportunities waiting for him in retirement, including a possible bout with Ngannou, or a boxing match perhaps with Tyson Fury who he recently started a feud with online.
