Nigerian heavyweight fighter Francis Ngannou parted ways with the MMA earlier this yeardue to contract disputes with boss Dana White.
His departure crushed MMA fan’s dreams of seeing a fight between the Nigerian and Jon Jones, a fight which White admits he tried to organize on several occasions. “I tried making that fight for two years. He didn’t want the fight. Do you know what I mean? He didn’t want the fight. He left here without even having another deal in place. And I know how the boxing world is. It’s crazy. But Francis didn’t want to do it.”
Jones’ return to the canvas coincided exactly with Ngannnou’s departure, ending any possibility of seeing the two heavyweights take each other on.
Despite the fight not happening, White is pretty convinced he knows what the outcome would have been had the two come to blows. “I tried to make that fight for two years, and let me tell you what. I think a lot of other people feel this way. I think that’s exactly the way the fight would’ve gone if (Ngannou) was in there, too. Him and Ciryl had a five-round war (at UFC 270). If Ciryl doesn’t go for that submission, Ciryl probably wins that fight at the end of the fifth round there.”
