Richard Schaefer’s main task as the advisor of Jon Jones is to get a fight with Francis Ngannou to come to fruition.
Jones recently announced that the former Golden Boy CEO would now serve as his advisor and help get him the fights that he and the combat sports world want to see.
The big one, of course, is a heavyweight title fight with Ngannou which many expected next only for Jones to have a pay dispute with the UFC and Dana White.
Schaefer’s goal is to solve that dispute and get the fight in progress.
“There’s this big fight out there, the fight against Francis Ngannou,” Schaefer said on MMA Today. “That’s the fight everybody wants to see. That’s what fight fans want to see. Not just UFC fans, fight fans period.
“And that’s really my task — to see if there’s a way to get that fight done and represent Jon Jones the legend against UFC, to see if we can get it done.”
Schaefer: Ngannou vs. Jones Can Be Biggest UFC PPV
Jones and White have repeatedly butted heads over negotiations with the former wanting to be paid what he’s worth for a dangerous fight while the latter has claimed unrealistic demands of up to $30 million have been made.
However, Schaefer — who has a good relationship with White — is hoping he can work something out.
“Dana and me have a great relationship,” Schaefer explained. “We respect each other. We’ve known each other for a long time. And I think you saw that yesterday with his comments, as well. I respect him; he respects me. I know the pay-per-view business as good as probably anyone, so does he. It’s really a matter of finding some common ground so we will be meeting soon and see if we can structure a deal which everybody can live with.
“… I have one task, which is to deliver to Jon that fight, and I’m gonna do whatever I can to do that based on my experience, based on my great relationship with Dana, and see if it will turn out into what I think can be the biggest UFC pay-per-view event of all time.”
🥊“Dana and me have a great relationship … it’s really a matter of finding some common ground.“ Richard Schafer outlines his goal of having Jones-NGannou come to fruition and how his knowledge of the PPV business can help 🔊@RJcliffordMMA @DinThomas
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/q8KWVfUxoy
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) May 27, 2021
Hopefully, that ends up being the case.
