For years,<\/p>\n
it has been called the biggest fight that never happened.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
And now,<\/p>\n
Jon Jones<\/p>\n
believes it could finally become reality.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to recent statements,<\/p>\n
the UFC heavyweight champion says he is willing to find a way out of his UFC contract<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
if it means securing a fight against<\/p>\n
Francis Ngannou.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t just another MMA fight.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
For many fans,<\/p>\n
it\u2019s the ultimate heavyweight showdown.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The greatest MMA fighter of all time<\/p>\n
against arguably the hardest puncher the sport has ever seen.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rivalry has been building for years.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back in 2021 and 2022,<\/p>\n
when Ngannou was still UFC champion,<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
fans expected a collision course with Jon Jones.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead, contract disputes and negotiations collapsed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ngannou eventually left the UFC in 2023,<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
becoming one of the few champions in history<\/p>\n
to walk away while holding the belt.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then,<\/p>\n
Francis has transformed into a global combat sports superstar.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
He shocked the boxing world by dropping: Tyson Fury<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
during their 2023 fight,<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
and reportedly earned more money from a few boxing matches<\/p>\n
than during his entire UFC career.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Jon Jones captured the UFC heavyweight title<\/p>\n
and continued building a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 many consider untouchable.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jones holds victories over: Daniel Cormier,<\/p>\n
Lyoto Machida,<\/p>\n
Quinton Jackson,<\/p>\n
Mauricio Rua,<\/p>\n
Ciryl Gane<\/p>\n
and countless former champions.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The biggest obstacle remains money.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some analysts believe a Jones vs Ngannou super-fight<\/p>\n
could require purses exceeding 50 million dollars combined.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a figure rarely seen in MMA history.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Online, fans are already debating the outcome.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some believe Jones\u2019 wrestling and fight IQ<\/p>\n
would neutralize Ngannou.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Others argue that Francis only needs one clean punch<\/p>\n
to change everything.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The hype is enormous because both men are now in their late careers.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every year that passes<\/p>\n
makes this dream fight harder to organize.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
For now,<\/p>\n
it\u2019s still just talk.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But after years of negotiations, missed opportunities and contract disputes,<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
the possibility of Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou finally sharing the same cage<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
feels closer than it has in a very long time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, it has been called the biggest fight that never happened. \u00a0 And now, Jon Jones believes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-680524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680524","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=680524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}