Ngannou Hopeful Of Fighting Jones, Strickland Targets The Money

In the MMA latest updates, Francis Ngannou is still optimistic that a fight with Jon Jones could happen later down the line. 

Ngannou is the former UFC heavyweight champion following his win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in 2021. Thereafter, Ngannou beat Ciryl Gane before leaving the UFC.

Ngannou’s Depature

Contract talks broke down as Ngannou ended up signing a lucrative deal with the PFL. The deal also gave Ngannou the chance to box in 2023 before his PFL debut next year, which he exercised as he faces Tyson Fury on October 28th, 2023.

In response, Dana White did state that Ngannou would not be welcomed by the UFC as a fight with Jones appears a long way off. As a result, Ngannou has stated that a fight will only happen if Jones were to crossover to the PFL. 

Ngannou On Jones

“It’s possible, but they have to go to the PFL now. The PFL is down for that. I don’t know, maybe it’ll be a special fight – a special belt or something, maybe not like a UFC belt. To be honest, I don’t worry about the title. The title is not what I worry about. I worry about that fight, that challenge.

“I wouldn’t care if it was a fight without a title. In my mind, I don’t need a UFC title. That fight is bigger than a title. The fight is bigger than a title. Deep inside me, I still have a little bit of hope, even though I know it’s going to be hard. But, you never know,” Ngannou stated

Strickland-Adesanya Rematch

Meanwhile, Sean Strickland has no problems fighting whoever, following his win over Israel Adesanya. The American shocked the world to become the UFC middleweight champion with a unanimous-decision win at UFC 293.

In the aftermath, there were calls for a rematch as Dana White hinted at the idea. However, the UFC CEO has since then distanced himself from those comments.

“Never once did I say, ‘Yes, we’re going to f***ing do this rematch.’ I said, ‘Yeah, rematch sounds – you know, we’ll see what happens.’ There’s obviously lots of options out there, and we’ll see what happens. But, yes, I’m still not opposed to an Israel rematch. We’ll see how it goes,” White

Strickland’s Future

At the same time, however, the number-one-ranked contender, Dricus Du Plessis, called out Strickland for the belt, with a view to South African then facing Adesanya later down the line. And with so many options out there, Strickland was not fazed by the opponents, just as long as he got paid handsomely.

“Izzy would be better, I’m sure they might give him a rematch. He might take it a little bit more serious, and put up a better fight… My thing is when it comes to my next fight, everyone’s like ‘Who do you want to fight?’, I don’t give a f**k. I want to make f***ing money, I get those pay-per-view points. Give me somebody who’s going to make me f***ing money. I don’t want anything boring, give me someone who’s making money,” Strickland stated