Jon Jones not only appears to have given up hope for a future bout with Francis Ngannou, but sounds like he’s done with the UFC in general.
Jones, in a series of Tweets on Thursday, said he was in negotiations with the UFC “as we speak” about a future fight. Less than an hour later, though, things seemed to take a very different turn.
The UFC, according to Jones, wasn’t willing to pay him more to jump up to heavyweight for the fight against Ngannou. So, he’s walking away.
It’s not clear what specifically went down in those negotiations.
Jones and Ngannou have been feuding back and forth on Twitter this week about a potential fight. Jones, the light heavyweight champion, has talked about moving to heavyweight for years now. He even hinted at doing so for a fight against Spite Miocic last year, but that never came to fruition.
Based on their conversations, both he and Ngannou appeared all in.
Ngannou is fresh off a win against Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 249 earlier this month, which he secured just 20 seconds into the bout with an early KO. The win marked his fourth-straight. Jones also had a win under his belt this year, having defended his light heavyweight title by beating Dominick Reyez by unanimous decision at UFC 247 in February. The 32-year-old hasn’t lost in more than a decade, with the only smudge on his resume being a no contest draw against Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 in 2017.
A fight between the two would be extremely entertaining, to say the least.
Apparently, though, negotiations have gone south. It may be quite some time before that fight is locked down, if it happens at all.
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