UFC Legend Blasts Jon Jones & Francis Ngannou Staredown During PFL Event

This former UFC veteran rips a recent faceoff between the two titans.

Fernando Quiles Jr. | Jun 20, 2023

UFC Legend Blasts Jon Jones & Francis Ngannou Staredown During PFL Event /

One former UFC title challenger believes the staredown between UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou during a PFL event was "cowardly."

Jones and Ngannou will not be sharing the cage despite much buzz surrounding the two. That's because Ngannou relinquished the UFC heavyweight gold after he and the UFC failed to come to terms on a new deal. Ngannou ended up putting pen to paper with PFL.

UFC President Dana White was in full promoter mode following Ngannou's PFL signing. The UFC boss claimed "The Predator" was at a stage in his career where he simply didn't want to take tough fights. Meanwhile, Jones hurled insults towards Ngannou on social media for leaving the UFC.

Jones and Ngannou ended up running into each other in the crowd during the PFL 5 event for the 2023 regular season. The two exchanged some words and had a staredown, much to the delight of PFL President Ray Sefo.

While the faceoff got some buzz online, we're no closer to seeing that fight happen, and that's a problem for Chael Sonnen. "The American Gangster" took to his YouTube channel to put the faceoff on blast.

"Whatever make believe, tough guy story they would like to do, they both came in here with the absolute protection of knowing, 'We can't fight each other,'" Sonnen said. "They did everything they could to really sidestep and pussyfoot it when it actually could've happened, and as soon as it cannot happen, you put them in the building together and we're gonna go face-to-face. That is some cowardly, cowardly stuff to the highest level."

Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones shared a cageside conversation 🍿

(🎥: @bokamotoESPN) pic.twitter.com/8wCCxiQwJp
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 17, 2023

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Published Jun 20, 2023

FERNANDO QUILES JR.

Fernando has over a decade of combat sports news writing experience. He currently covers MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling. Fernando joined MMA Knockout as the Lead Writer/Editor when it was founded in 2023.