UFC commentator and former two-division champion Daniel Cormier knows that a potential heavyweight showdown between Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou would be a huge deal.
However, having faced Jones twice himself, Cormier also pointed out that, with Ngannou housed comfortably at PFL, and Jones signed to the UFC, it’s unlikely that fans will ever see the fight take place.
Daniel Cormier Dismisses Jon Jones vs Fracis Ngannou: “there’s no way it could ever work”
Speculation has been rife since Jones and Ngannou stared one another down at a recent PFL event, but Cormier believes it won’t come to more than that. “It’s a big deal but it kind of sucks.
It just reminds us that it won’t happen. Because now that Francis is gone there’s no way it could ever work. There’s no way it could ever be cross promoted to make it happen. Here’s one thing I took from that honestly, I watched them come up to each other and Francis ain’t afraid of nobody.
He’s one of the baddest men on the planet. But as Jon’s grabbing him, touching his arm, and he’s talking to him, something changes in him whenever they’re face-to-face.
When Francis starts talking about being the king of the world, Jon said, ‘I’ve always been the king. I’ve always been the best.’ When you look at his facial expression, I’ve seen that before.
When him and I would come into our interactions and we were arguing, both of us had this idea that ‘I am the best.’ Nothing is gonna change that. And I could see that wash across his face with Francis and he told him. It showed me in that moment that Jon Jones ain’t afraid of Francis Ngannou. Not at all.”
Cormier’s own rivalry with Jon Jones extended over two fights. In the first, Jones dispatched Cormier via unanimous decision. The second saw Jones knock Cormier out in the third round, but the victory was overturned into a no contest when Jones failed a drug test.
“Everybody says Jon’s a psychopath, and he might be, but I’ve been across from him in many of those instances and I know him and I are going through the same emotions of, ‘It’s gonna be you or it’s gonna be me. One of us is gonna get it.’
I can see it in his face when Francis was in front of him, he got that same type of feeling and that same type of thought going through his head.”
