Jon Jones has been actively tweeting recently, and in one post, he expressed interest in the long-speculated matchup against former UFC heavyweight champion and current PFL Super Fight titleholder, Francis Ngannou.
Ngannou`s head coach, Eric Nicksick, recently suggested that Ngannou would “100 percent” consider returning to the UFC in the future. After feeling mistreated and undervalued during his time as UFC heavyweight champion, Ngannou vacated his title and chose to sign with PFL as both a fighter and an ambassador for PFL Africa. Following Ngannou`s departure, Jon Jones went on to win the vacant UFC heavyweight belt, while Ngannou has earned millions competing in both boxing and the PFL cage.
On Friday, Jones tweeted that a fight with Ngannou would motivate him to compete again, unlike a potential bout against interim champion Tom Aspinall.
Less than 24 hours later, Ngannou responded on Twitter, stating: “You take care of the UFC, I’ll take care of the PFL, and we’ll finally find out who’s the KING OF THE HEAVYWEIGHT.”
Jones and Ngannou had previously sought this matchup multiple times after Jones decided to vacate the UFC light heavyweight title and move up to heavyweight. However, the fight never came to fruition, with UFC CEO Dana White claiming Jones was seeking “Deontay Wilder money” for the bout.
Subsequently, White has repeatedly stated that he has no interest in working with Ngannou again, while PFL founder Donn Davis has expressed his desire to make the fight between Jones and Ngannou a reality through a potential co-promotion with the UFC.
Jones most recently defended his title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November, while Ngannou made his PFL debut a month prior, securing a first-round TKO victory over Renan Ferreira.
