VIDEO: Jon Jones & Francis Ngannou Face Off, Trade Heated Words at PFL Event
UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Lineal UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou have finally faced off after months of petty Twitter squabbles.
Jones was in attendance at PFL 5 on June 16, cornering his teammate Maurice Greene, Ngannou was present for PFL promotional purposes. The two came face to face after the main event.
The two began by measuring up to one another, Jones grabbed Ngannou's muscles, and the Cameroonian fighter replied by tapping Jones' stomach.
"Jonny boy!" Ngannou announced. Jones laughed gleefully and the two fighters shook hands. "Respect," Ngannou acknowledged Jones before pointing out that he was in PFL and Jones is in the UFC, so their fight couldn't materialize.
"You don't want no smoke," Jones repeated twice. "You don't want no smoke," Ngannou replied. Jones mentioned being the "One true king," and stated that he'll "always be king."
"Since the day I started this, and I'm gonna die a king," Jones remarked. Ngannou's reply was inaudible, but he mentioned heavyweight. "We'll see," Jones replied. "But you left." He refers to Ngannou vacating his title and moving to the PFL.
"You sat out for three years," Ngannou exclaimed. Jones hit back, "I had to get to a good enough size to kick your ass." Ngannou responded, remarking that three years is a long time, "you can knock up a woman, you can have a baby..."
The two exchanged some more words, before Jones brought the conversation back to fighting. "Have you been wrestling?" he said, looking Ngannou up and down. "Always..." Ngannou replied but the rest was inaudible. "That's great," Jones smiled, and the two shook hands again.
Ngannou continued, "I want you. I want to kick your ass." Jones mentioned Ngannou needing wrestling in order to kick his ass. "You're gonna have to learn how to --- good Jiu-Jitsu. It's gonna take you more than a year," Jones declared.
Ngannou's reply was drowned out by the music. The two men exchanged pleasantries and shook hands for the last time. "My guy," Jones leaned in to Ngannou, locking eyes with the former champ, "My guy," he repeated firmly before walking away.
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The two UFC heavyweight champions have been trading barbed words for the better part of 2023, mostly spurred on by comments Ngannou made in a PFL promotional piece and on his YouTube Channel:
"I'm the baddest motherf***er on the planet ... for whoever feels ready, they know who I am.No matter what other promoters say, no matter what some fighters say, no matter what [the] media says, who do you think is the baddest motherf***er on the planet? Me."
"Calling yourself the baddest man on the planet from across the street, who does that? lol," Jones remarked on Twitter.
The rest is history. What remains is potentially one of the biggest fights in MMA & UFC history. If the fight can materialize, it could only border on Conor McGregor levels of popularity.
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