{"id":625226,"date":"2026-04-23T07:17:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625226\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T07:17:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:17:23","slug":"francis-ngannou-admits-he-still-really-wants-jon-jones-fight-before-his-career-is-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625226\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou admits he still ‘really’ wants Jon Jones fight before his career is over"},"content":{"rendered":"

Francis Ngannou admits Jon Jones is still the fight he really wants.<\/p>\n

Ngannou vs. Jones is one of the biggest fights<\/a> to make in MMA, but it seems like a bout that will never happen. Jones has retired from MMA, while Ngannou is set to fight for MVP Promotions, and a return to the UFC seems unlikely. However, Ngannou said that the fight is the one he really wants and hopes it can happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cJon Jones is the fight that I really want to have before my retirement,\u201d Ngannou said to ESPN<\/a>. \u201cBut other than that, it could be anybody, I don\u2019t care. As long as it\u2019s a fight. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s a fight that would define my career or something, but if I had to pick, okay let\u2019s do this one and go home, then it would be Jon Jones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Ngannou is hopeful it will happen, it does seem unlikely<\/a> it will happen at this point.<\/p>\n

Francis Ngannou believes Jon Jones fight was never real<\/p>\n

However, there were rumors of a Ngannou-Jones super fight over the years, but the former UFC heavyweight champion said that it wasn\u2019t real.<\/p>\n

Instead, Ngannou believes Jones was just using his name as leverage and bait during his negotiations and didn\u2019t have much interest in the bout ever taking place.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisappoint me? No,\u201d Ngannou said about missing out on fighting Jones. \u201cIt was never really on the table, so I don\u2019t have to be disappointed. The only time that he seems like a possibility was when he was used as bait, something to bait me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Ngannou will return to MMA on May 16 against Philipe Lins on the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card. It will be his first fight in MMA since October of 2024, when he TKO\u2019d Renan Ferreira in the first round in his lone PFL appearance.<\/p>\n

Who do you think would have won, Jon Jones or Francis Ngannou? Sound off in the comment section, PENN Nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou admits Jon Jones is still the fight he really wants. Ngannou vs. Jones is one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-625226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}