MMA commentator and former UFC and Bellator star Chael Sonnen believes that Jon Jones’ arrival at heavyweight could herald one of the biggest fights in the game. If that fight takes place between Jones and reigning heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou, it will be even bigger, as Sonnen explained on his YouTube channel.
“Jon Jones vs. Francis, I think, is the biggest fight you can put on in our industry. It’s also going to be the first fight where [two fighters] have four years of inactivity between the two of them. It’s a very peculiar situation.”
Sonnen: Jones vs Ngannou Is The Biggest Fight You Can Make
Sonnen continued, explaining how both fighters’ lengthy periods of inactivity could push the fight into the stratosphere. “Francis appears to be safe in that he hasn’t been stripped, [and if he has, it] hasn’t come out yet.
We’ve heard the rumor that Jones and Stipe were going to fight for an interim championship. We’ve heard a rumor that Jones and Curtis were going to fight, but that rumor went right away, but it happened, and attached to that fight was going to be an interim championship. If that were true, that would protect Francis — he’s only got so much time to get his contract worked out and his knee healed up.
I’m just sharing with you that if he comes back and is still undisputed champion, he’s in a pretty good spot, and in fact it would be a title fight because he’s the one bringing the title. But if he gets stripped, all bets are off.”
Jones has not competed since his decision win over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in early 2020. Francis Ngannou has been out of action since his title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. Ngannou’s contract with the UFC has been in dispute ever since, and that, coupled with a knee injury keeping the heavyweight champ out of the Octagon, has left his status with the promotion in doubt.
Jon Jones, meanwhile, has spent much of the past several years with a very different type of fight on his hands. Jones was arrested in Las Vegas on the same night of his UFC Hall of Fame induction for domestic violence. Whether either fighter will ever fight again for the UFC remains to be seen, but if they do, it will surely be one of the biggest fights of the year.
Do you think we’ll ever see Jones vs Ngannou? Let us know in the comments.
