Ngannou Names Jon Jones As Ultimate Retirement Fight

Francis Ngannou confessed that despite his successful transition to boxing and his upcoming return to the cage, a clash with Jon Jones remains his goal.

Ngannou reflected on the contractual gridlock that prevented the fight in 2023, accusing the UFC of using the “Jones fight” for their own agenda. Ngannou’s recent comments shed new light on the final months of his UFC tenure, which ended in early 2023. Ngannou believes the UFC never intended to make the fight.

Ngannou also recently took to social media to support Jones in his own public fallout with Dana White, stating that Jones deserves a $30M+ payday and his “freedom” from the promotion. Francis is currently in the final stages of camp for a five-round heavyweight bout against Philipe Lins. The fight serves as the co-main event for the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano Netflix special at the Intuit Dome.

Jones Reacts

Jones remains “retired” on paper but is actively seeking his UFC release. The relationship between Jones and CEO Dana White soured this March after White claimed Jones was “finished” due to hip arthritis—a claim Jones vehemently denied while exposing “lowball” offers for the UFC Freedom 250 card.

“Jon Jones is the fight that I really want to have before my retirement. 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, okay let’s do this one and go home, then it would be Jon Jones. Disappoint me? No. 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,” Ngannou said 

Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.