Francis Ngannou, preparing for his PFL debut after leaving UFC, refutes Dana White’s claim that he avoided a fight with Jon Jones, stating he actively pursued the matchup but sought fair contract conditions.
Francis Ngannou knows how the game works, especially when it comes to Dana White.
Now that he’s preparing for his PFL debut, which comes more than a year after he passed on a lucrative offer to stay with the UFC and test free agency, the former heavyweight champion understands that his former boss can create whatever story he wants about avoiding a potential fight against Jon Jones.
Following the most recent edition of The Contender Series, White put the blame on Ngannou as he responded to a question about that potential matchup when he claimed, “you can’t make people fight and we couldn’t make Francis fight [Jon Jones].”
On Thursday, during a pre-fight press conference to promote his fight against Renan Ferreira in October, Ngannou smiled when asked about White saying that he was the one who prevented a fight against Jones from happening.
“I think that’s the new narrative since he needs to say something either way,” Ngannou said. “As far as I’m concerned, it was Jon Jones that didn’t want to fight me — according to them. So many times we sit down on the meeting, [they said] ‘oh it can’t happen, Jon Jones doesn’t want to fight anymore. He’s living in Albuquerque, he’s living his small life, he has a lot of money in his bank account.’”
“I think the guy who controls the narrative can say whatever he wants. But that’s just the narrative.”
While he openly pursued the fight against Jones going back several years, Ngannou admits that the only way he would have turned down that potential matchup was if that became a condition of his negotiations with the UFC.
Prior to leaving the company, Ngannou made it clear he was seeking some concessions in his contract to allow him more freedom to pursue outside interests like the boxing matches he eventually landed with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Ngannou also sought other conditions beyond just money that eventually led to him leaving the heavyweight title behind when he exited the UFC.
Looking back now, the 37-year-old Cameroon native doesn’t have any regrets but he can promise that he never just passed on Jones as an opponent simply because he was desperately trying to avoid that fight.
“I was the one requesting the Jon Jones fight but I didn’t want [to get trapped] into some deal and get to something that I didn’t want. I wanted things to be straight and square. So yes, I wanted to fight Jon Jones but in good conditions. Not just to fight to be paid out.”