Getty Image / Katelyn Mulcahy
Ever since Francis Ngannou made the decision to leave the UFC, Dana White has taken every chance he can get to try and rewrite the story of Ngannou’s time in the organization.
Last month he claimed that Ngannou was scared to take risks and that he was interested in gimmick boxing matches that the UFC just wasn’t interested in being a part of.
Yesterday, he made a claim that was just as ridiculous.
During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show”, White was asked about the idea of a cross-promotion fight between Ngannou and Jon Jones.
He said there was no way it would happen and then claimed that Jones wanted the fight the whole time Ngannou was in the organziation.
Ngannou fired back yesterday, pointing out that he wanted the fight for 3 years and Jones didn’t take a fight during that time.
No Pat, Jonny was on vacation for 3 years while I sat there waiting 🙄 https://t.co/OuS3SxMOGp
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) June 23, 2023
Luckily for Ngannou, Jones’ aversion to that fight while Ngannou was still in the organization is pretty well documented.
A couple of years ago, White was calling Jones out for not wanting the Ngannou fight.
At the time, Jones came out and said that 8-10 million dollars wasn’t enough for him to take the fight with Ngannou, but now that the scariest fighter in the heavyweight division went out and got the contract he wanted, he apparently never wanted the Jones fight to begin with.
It’s really a ridiculous idea to believe that Francis Ngannou has any reason to be afraid of fighting Jon Jones.
Ngannou was supposed to be challenged by the wrestling of Curtis Blaydes. He put Blaydes away in 45 seconds. He wasn’t supposed to be able to handle Stipe’s wrestling the second time they fought. That one lasted 6 minutes before Ngannou’s hand was raised.
Yet we’re supposed to believe that because Jones submitted a guy that couldn’t stop Ngannou’s takedowns while the champ was fighting with a torn ACL, all of a sudden he’s worried about Jones.
Jones struggled against Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes before his move to heavyweight and went 2-9 on takedowns against Reyes.
Jones waited until Ngannou left the UFC to actually make his move up to heavyweight and it was probably a smart move on his part.
Francis Ngannou dispatched just about everybody he faced during his UFC run. The idea that he felt the need to run from anybody is pure fiction.