Francis Ngannou (right)(image credit Top Rank Boxing / Twitter)

By FCF Staff

UFC President Dana White has claimed that Francis Ngannou didn’t want to fight Jon Jones. But, the former UFC heavyweight champ says the promotion told himit was Jones, who did not want to fight.

Before Ngannou ultimately exited the UFC, for months, there was talk about him fighting Jones. After Ngannou opted to sign with the PFL, White claimed the promotion did everything in its power to make the fight happen. This past week, White repeated his claim that Ngannou did not want to fight Jones.

But, at a press conference on Thursday to promote Ngannou’s October 19th bout with Renan Ferreira, the former champ was asked to respond to White. Ngannou proceeded to claim UFC officials had told him, Jones was not interested in the fight anymore (quotes via MMA Fighting.com).

“I think that’s the new narrative since he needs to say something either way,” Ngannou said. “As far as I’m concerned, it was Jon Jones that didn’t want to fight me — according to them. So many times we sit down on the meeting, [they said] ‘oh it can’t happen, Jon Jones doesn’t want to fight anymore. He’s living in Albuquerque, he’s living his small life, he has a lot of money in his bank account.’

“I think the guy who controls the narrative can say whatever he wants. But that’s just the narrative.”

The 37-year-old Ngannou (17-3) has yet to compete in MMA, since he recorded a decision win over Ciyrl Gane in January, 2022.

Since then, Ngannou has competed in two boxing matches. After impressing in a decision loss to Tyson Fury in October, 2023, Ngannou was knocked out by Anthony Joshua this past March.