Francis Ngannou’s coach has said the heavyweight will not return to the UFC, but that a co-promotional deal with the PFL would be of interest, as the “Predator” eyes a potential clash with Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall.
Ngannou vacated the UFC heavyweight title upon leaving the promotion in January 2023, before venturing into boxing for seismic bouts against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, and more recently returning to mixed martial arts in October.
While Ngannou was brutally knocked out by Joshua last March, he dropped Fury and was unlucky not to outpoint the then-WBC champion in late 2023. Last October, he made his debut with the PFL as he returned to MMA, stopping Renan Ferreira in round one.
Still, the Cameroonian is open to working with the UFC, per one of his coaches, Dewey Cooper.
“Francis Ngannou versus Jon Jones, that’s the MMA fight that the world wants to see,” Cooper said via Online Slots, referencing the reigning UFC heavyweight champion. “That’s the [Floyd] Mayweather versus [Manny] Pacquiao fight that the world wants to see in mixed martial arts.
“I truly feel if you asked me if he’s willing to go to the table with a co-promotion [between the PFL and UFC], absolutely he would, because he wants that fight with Jon Jones as bad as anyone wants it. I’m sure he’s willing to negotiate some kind of partnership to do it.
“I don’t see any chance of Francis returning to the UFC. The other coaches on our staff may think differently. I can see him doing a kind of co-promotion thing, maybe a UFC fight but in conjunction with the PFL. Because when all this went down and we ‘fumbled the bag’, the PFL had Francis’s back. And one thing about Francis: he appreciates the support he got from PFL.
“He’s not just gonna forget about that when the whole world said he screwed up and he blew it, or that he was afraid to fight someone – which was never the truth – the PFL came to him and had his back. So, as of now, he’s still with the PFL, so in order to do anything, the PFL would definitely have to be involved.
“And if the business truly made sense, I think even Dana [White, UFC president] would, too – if it really made good business. I don’t think Dana would be pig-headed to say ‘no’, but it has to be done a certain way, or there’s no way it could happen.”
Cooper was referring to Ngannou’s torrid relationship with White; while the UFC chief lauded Ngannou and his frightening knockout power earlier in the 38-year-old’s career, the Cameroonian’s desire to earn his worth soured their partnership. White once even reversed his claim that Jones was avoiding a fight with Ngannou, saying more recently that Ngannou was avoiding Jones.
After Ngannou left the UFC, former light-heavyweight champion Jones moved up to heavyweight and won the vacant belt in March 2023. Later that year, Britain’s Aspinall won the interim belt. While Aspinall and Jones have since retained their respective versions of the gold, the American has avoided a fight with Aspinall, who claims Jones is actually retired – without the UFC announcing that update.
“Francis vs Jon is absolutely bigger than Jon vs Tom,” Cooper said. “And Tom wants [Francis vs Jon] to happen. Why? Because he would get the winner anyway, even bigger stakes for him. Tom, being in a position he’s in, at the age he’s at [32], he can wait a little bit. Let those two legends fight each other, and then he fights the ultimate legend. That would be the best-case scenario for his brand.
“I definitely think Jon fights again after the way he looked against Stipe [Miocic, whom Jones stopped in November]. People don’t realise this is a new weight class for him, so he hasn’t experienced all those exhilarating moments he did at light-heavyweight. He only has two fights in the heavyweight division, so there’s some intriguing match-ups for him.
“That gives him his purpose, so absolutely he’s going to fight again. He’s just doing the Floyd Mayweather method, playing horrible to make optimal money. He wants to control the narrative and be the puppet master on all the moves. He will end up fighting Aspinall [if] this Ngannou fight is just too impossible to make.”
Aspinall told The Independent this month that Jones, 37, has retired from MMA and that he himself has a date and location for his next fight.
It is likely that Aspinall has committed to a specific UFC event later this year, and that the promotion is trying one last time to convince Jones to face the Wigan fighter, before it locks in an alternative opponent for Aspinall.
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