Dana White had zero doubts when asked if he'd re-sign Francis Ngannou to the UFC to fight Jon Jones.
Jones turned his attention away from interim UFC champion Tom Aspinall amid prolonged negotiations as he set his sights on Ngannou, who departed the UFC in January 2023.
On X, the UFC heavyweight champion wrote: "I’m hearing Francis Ngannou is still interested... now we’re talking. That’s a real super fight. A clash of champions, not just hype. He held the UFC belt, I’ve defended mine for over a decade. Two kings from different roads. Not just one legend facing a mouth that’s hot right now, but two real legacies colliding."
Ngannou swiftly replied as he threw down the gauntlet to 'Bones'.
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After the conclusion of last night's UFC 316, White, naturally, was asked about the Jones and Aspinall drama.
He was also pressed on whether he'd re-sign 'The Predator'.
But White has no intention of bringing Ngannou back to the UFC.
Asked if he had any interest in trying to get the ex-UFC heavyweight king back under contract, he shook his head and replied: "Meh. Probably not!"
White insists the Jones fight is for Aspinall, who hasn't fought since defending his interim title against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in Manchester last summer.
"It’s Aspinall’s fight,” he replied when asked if there was anything either the PFL or Ngannou could do to make the Jones fight happen.
"I mean, we’ve been talking to this kid about it forever and it’s his fight."
On Jones, he added: "Listen, you can’t make people fight, if Jon doesn’t want to fight, you can’t make him fight. We can try to make him fight, we can throw things at him that inspire him to want to fight, but we’ll figure it out... I don’t have Ngannou under contract and Aspinall is the guy!"
Jones picked up the vacant UFC heavyweight championship after Ngannou walked away from the promotion.
He beat Ciryl Gane to win the UFC heavyweight title before make the first defence against Stipe Miocic last November.
Ngannou, meanwhile, has had one MMA fight since his UFC departure. He destroyed Renan Ferreira at PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants last October.
He's also had two lucrative boxing bouts against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Topics: Dana White, UFC, Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones
Nasir Jabbar