Amid all the back-and-forth on social media, heavyweight titans Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou finally had the chance to size each other up.
The UFC’s heavyweight champion recently came face-to-face with ‘The Predator’ at the PFL 5 event in Atlanta. Ngannou was there to watch the event and discuss his recent signing with the promotion. On the other hand, Jones was present to corner his teammate Maurice Greene, who competed in the event’s headliner.
After the conclusion of the main event, ‘Bones‘ and Ngannou had somewhat of a tense yet respectful face-off. As per the clips making the rounds, Jon grabbed and sized up the former UFC heavyweight champion while saying, “You know you don’t want no smoke.” Ngannou pointed to Jon’s belly while seeming to appear making fun of it.
We told you that tonight could get interesting 👀
The faceoff that you all were waiting for #PFLRegularSeason pic.twitter.com/lLonBECFUY
— PFL (@PFLMMA) June 17, 2023
Under PFL president Ray Sefo’s watchful eye, the two had a brief conversation while appearing cordial throughout. At one point, both the giants claim to be the heavyweight king, followed by a handshake and Jones adding, “We will see. We could have saw, but you left.”
Adding to that, Jon seemed to remind Francis that the former has been sitting on the top of the MMA world for over a decade. Jones said, “I’ve always been the king since the day I started this. and I’m gonna die a king.” Ngannou appeared to note that he pursued the Jones bout for his final 2 years with the UFC. To which, Jon responded with – “I had to get to a good enough size to kick your ass.”
“Have you been wrestling?” Jon asked the Cameroonian. Francis swiftly said, “Oh yes,” followed by words that remain unclear due to the loud background noise. ‘Bones’ wasted no time and told Francis to take his wrestling prowess a notch should the two eventually throw down.
Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones meet face-to-face 👀 pic.twitter.com/uC2M7Lzhng
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 17, 2023
Jon said, “In order to kick my ass you’re going to have to learn how to wrestle. You’re gonna have to learn how to do jiu-jitsu and it’s going to take you more than a year.”
“I’ll wait for you for more than a year,” responded Ngannou. During this whole time, there seemed to be no animosity between the duo and nobody got physical. After their now-viral back-and-forth, the two ended it with smiles and a handshake.
Jon Jones sizing up Francis Ngannou has fans in splits
Needless to say, both Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou are eager to face other inside the cage one day. However, an actual fight between the two seems highly unlikely to happen, at least any time in the foreseeable future.
Followed by the duo’s viral face-off, Tte MMA world immediately took to social media to voice their initial reactions. Some fans believe the matchup is too good to be true and might never actually manifest. Others seem to already side with Jones, should the two fight.
Here are some reactions on the matter –
If this fight doesn’t happen ! It’ll go down as the greatest MMA fight in history to never happen.
— Emperor Kaash 🇳🇬🇬🇭 (@EmperorKaash) June 17, 2023
why is this fight even a debate jon gets takedown jon wins fight is it not that simple?
— GMoney (@GMoneyman2000) June 17, 2023
Super unfortunate nothing is ever going to come of this. What a matchup
— Charlie Quinn (@CharlieQuinnMMA) June 17, 2023
Jon Jones would cripple and maul Ngannou into retirement pic.twitter.com/9KyoO8AX8f
— PeakyLOTR (@BrockMorrison19) June 17, 2023
They’ll never fight sadly but we all know Jones would beat him. He’s the undisputed 🐐
— 😈 (@Flatbush_Killaz) June 17, 2023
Dana White seeing PFL got the face off before him pic.twitter.com/B88Efx7jcA
— . (@clydeefernandes) June 17, 2023
Interesting?..these guys are not fighting each other
— Jones23 (@NDJONES23) June 17, 2023
Dana gonna be pretty pink about this;
Specially because of the shirt Jon is wearing!— azamat (@azamatsediqui) June 17, 2023
Not really, they aren’t going to fight so what’s the point?
— SirSplatter (@SplatterThe3rd) June 17, 2023
Jon is dying laughing inside thinking about how pissed Dana is right now
— JK Cho (@jungkwancho) June 17, 2023
Now jones doesn’t have that same twitter energy 😂
— Kenneth (@Kchilds718) June 17, 2023
So all that talk from both was absolutely pointless 🤣
— Gary Holliday (@garth_23) June 17, 2023
While Ngannou did tower over Jones, the latter’s bulked-up physique helped in making this face-off appear not too mismatched. After all, ‘Bones’ took over 3 years to put on weight before debuting in the UFC‘s heavyweight division.
At UFC 285, Jones submitted the Frenchman and no. 1 contender at the time, Ciryl Gane, capturing the heavyweight gold. As for Ngannou, he anticipates his PFL debut to happen sometime in 2024, but not before a potential boxing match.