Francis Ngannou welcomes Jon Jones fight, PFL CEO asks, ‘Does UFC want to step up to it or not?’

Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones is the matchup everybody wants. Especially Ngannou and the PFL.

On Saturday, Ngannou responded to a tweet from Jones in which the UFC heavyweight champion defiantly addressed critics who have accused him of avoiding interim champion Tom Aspinall.

Ngannou appeared to support Jones, but added that there’s still one big fight for him out there that could greatly boost his legacy.

“Blessings make haters uncomfortable, but they can’t change it,” Ngannou wrote. “There’s only one fight, the right fight that will multiply your blessings.”

Ngannou capped off his statement with a hashtag reading, “Ngannou vs. Jones.”

The PFL star echoes the sentiment of league CEO Peter Murray, who spoke to talkSPORT MMA during Friday’s 2024 PFL World Championships event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Murray was asked if it’s possible for Jones to someday fight Ngannou, the PFL heavyweight champion. Ngannou and Jones teased the possibility of a matchup when both were on the UFC roster, but Ngannou vacated his UFC title and parted ways with the promotion in 2023 to sign with PFL and pursue boxing matches, while Jones later made the move from light heavyweight to heavyweight where he has won a pair of championship bouts.

Still, the thought of Ngannou and Jones—No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—sharing the cage remains a tantalizing one, and Murray would love it if UFC was willing to play ball with his league.

“We’re supportive of it,” Murray said of the Ngannou vs. Jones bout. “The fighters want the fight, Jon Jones wants the fight, Francis wants the fight, we want the fight, our partners here in Saudi want the fight. It really comes down to does UFC want to step up to it or not? Period.”

The UFC has staunchly avoided cross-promotion in the past, with the notable exception of the massive Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing bout in August 2017, that saw Dana White and company join forces with the boxing legend’s Mayweather Promotions to help facilitate the matchup. It didn’t hurt that the UFC received a considerable share of the profits from the massive crossover fight.

While Ngannou vs. Jones is unlikely to reach those heights—thus making it unlikely the UFC ever considers a PFL partnership—Murray is still pleased with Ngannou’s time with the league so far. Ngannou’s contract allows him to compete in boxing bouts and he signed on for massive matchups with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua before making his PFL debut this past October.

Ngannou successfully rebounded from a knockout loss to Joshua with a thudding KO of Ferreira at PFL’s Battle of the Giants event. The victory came six months after the death of Ngannou’s infant son, Kobe.

“He’s just an incredible human and a tremendous fighter and what a great partner,” Murray said. “That fight against Renan Ferreira, it was really, in Francis’s words, more than a fight for him. He kept things moving after extraordinary tragedy in his life, losing his son, and that was Francis’ decision to come back into the cage and he was directing his energy. I was very happy for him.”