Despite their regular back-and-forth, Francis Ngannou does regret not being able to fight Jon Jones.
Ngannou recently made headlines in the MMA world by signing a lucrative deal with PFL that lets him box on the side among many other perks.
Many were pleased for Ngannou for sticking to his demands while others felt he was in it for the money rather than the legacy as he could have stayed in the UFC and fought Jones.
While Ngannou still feels vindicated by his decision, he admits regrets of never sharing the Octagon with the current UFC heavyweight champion.
“I will always have a regret of not fighting Jon Jones,” Ngannou said on DC & RC (via MMA Junkie).” “I think you know, being in the sport, being in this position, what you want to do is to test yourself against somebody like Jon Jones, who stands as a GOAT of the sport.”
An Ngannou vs. Jones fight may have happened had the former stayed with the UFC.
But with “The Predator” at PFL, it now appears next to impossible, especially with UFC president Dana White being highly unlikely to be open to any form of cross-promotion.
However, if an opportunity were to somehow turn up in the future, Ngannou would more than definitely look into it as he knows it's an important fight for both their legacies.
“Still this day, I’m like, if ever there’s an opportunity to fight Jon Jones, we will do it,” Ngannou continued. “But I don’t know how. Maybe a cross promotion? I don’t know. But Jon Jones is somebody that anyone that’s looking to make a legacy in this sport would like to fight.
“It’s like back in the day, everybody has to fight – when you’re the guy, it’s good to fight Fedor because he was out there doing his thing, and he was the guy and you couldn’t argue that. I think it’s the same thing right now. And I think it goes both ways, even for Jon Jones. Even for Jon Jones, this was a good fight to make a statement.”
In the end, nothing is impossible when it comes to MMA. However, it's always best to strike when the iron is hot and right now, it's extremely hot.
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