One of the greatest combat sports bouts we may never see is Jon Jones vs Francis Ngannou. The fight was actually scheduled to take place until the Cameroonian failed to reach a proper contract and left. Former title challenger Ciryl Gane was picked for yet another shot at the strap resulting in a less exciting matchup.
Ciryl has had a meteoric rise in the UFC. Ever since his debut against Raphael Pessoa back in 2019, the French fighter went on a manhunt across the heavyweight division. Big names like Junior Dos Santos, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Tai Tuivasa, etc. all got defeated by the humble ‘Bon Gamin’.
The fight against Francis was different for a few reasons. Not only did Ngannou have terrifying knockout power, but he also trained with Gane at one point. When ‘The Predator’ pulled off his surprise wrestling against the unsuspecting Cyril, the French contender was left seemingly helpless.
Ngannou spoke about the fight on his Youtube channel, “I knew that if Jones shows up in a good space mentally, not like his last two fights, he’s going to prevail in this fight but I didn’t see this fight go so short. I think this fight could have been longer. I was surprised though. I was surprised by the way the fight ended.”
He continued, “I think seeing even Ciryl’s reaction, he was surprised as well because he wasn’t even defending. He wasn’t thinking that a submission can come from the way he was at. That was quite a great performance from Jones.”
The main event did not live up to the hype generated by all the UFC 285 promos. Between his first title shot against Ngannou and a second title shot against Jon, Gane only had one win against Tai Tuivasa. ‘Bam Bam’ is not a bad fighter by any means but does not represent the level of experience Jones brings.
What did Francis Ngannou think of Jon Jones’s performance?
‘The Predator’ discussed his opinions on Jones, “Not very surprising because I knew that if I could outwrestle Ciryl, Jones would be another story. You’ll have a hot knife if Jones could lay his hands on him.”
Good job Jonny Boy 👍
Sincerely,
The heavyweight king— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) March 5, 2023
Jones brings the experience of fighting at Light-heavyweight where fighters can perform a wider range of maneuvers. Heavyweights are usually pretty limited when it comes to their movements and that factor could’ve ultimately doomed ‘Bon Gamin’. It would be interesting to see Ngannou get his shot against Jon but Dana White does not seem to want him back.
Who do you think would win a match between Francis and Jon ‘Bones’?
