Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou have been exchanging messages on social media over the past week, teasing a potential fight between them.
The chatter started after Jones teased a possible move to heavyweight — a move he’s talked about for several years — and before long, he was trading shots with Ngannou about how they’d match up in a fight.
The back-and-forth was definitely intriguing, considering Jones doesn’t have a fight booked right now and Ngannou is currently stuck in limbo with the heavyweight division largely on hold after he earned his fourth consecutive knockout win at UFC 249.
While a showdown between Jones and Ngannou is definitely intriguing, UFC president Dana White isn’t totally convinced they actually want to fight each other.
“Anything’s possible,” White responded when asked about the matchup during the UFC on ESPN 8 post-fight press conference. “I don’t know if those guys really want that fight.
“Let me tell you this, and I’m not saying this is the case with these two — you see a lot of talk online and whatever it might be. Actually making fights is a whole other ballgame.”
Considering Ngannou is stuck waiting for Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier to finish their trilogy later this year, it seems completely plausible he would entertain a fight against Jones. That would provide Ngannou with a huge, marquee fight against arguably the greatest UFC champion of all time.
As for Jones, he’s got a lot of options available right now. There’s a potential rematch looming with Dominick Reyes after Jones won a very close decision over him back in February, not to mention a meeting with Jan Blachowicz, who’s been calling for a title shot since finishing Corey Anderson by knockout.
Jones has also talked about moving to heavyweight during multiple title reigns at 205 pounds, but he’s balked at the idea almost as often as he’s mentioned it.
Still, as the UFC continues to build out the schedule for the remainder of 2020, a fight between Ngannou and Jones would almost certainly do big business for the promotion. White would certainly be interested in that. Doing the legwork to make it happen might be a different story.