Francis
Ngannou was an interested observer when Jon Jones made
his heavyweight debut against Ciryl Gane
in the UFC 285
main event.
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“The Predator” expected Jones to prevail in the matchup, but he
wouldn’t have predicted the bout to end as quickly as it did. After
a three-year absence, Jones captured the vacant heavyweight title
with a submission of Gane 2:04 into the opening round.
“I knew that if Jon Jones
shows up in a good space mentally, not like his last two fights,
he’s going to prevail in this fight, but I didn’t see this fight
going this short. I think this fight could have been longer,”
Ngannou said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. “I was
surprised, though. I was surprised the way that the fight ended.
And I think even seeing Ciryl’s reaction, he was surprised as well
because he wasn’t even defending. He wasn’t thinking that a
submission could come from where he was.”
Though Ngannou praised Jones for his victory, he also noticed one
potential flaw in the new champion’s performance.
“That was quite a great performance from Jones,” Ngannou said. “Not
very surprising, because I knew that if I could outwrestle Ciryl,
Jon would be another story. He would have a hard night if Jon could
lay in on him, but what I did notice is that Jon was rushing. Jon
didn’t want to give him space, because I think he was afraid of
something.
“Maybe he’d get exhausted at some point, not be able to grab him,
so he was chasing him from the first minute to grab him. It worked
out pretty good, but it tells me something like he wasn’t very
confident, he was rushing, which is good for him.”
Ngannou’s last Octagon appearance occurred at UFC 270 in January
2022, when he defeated Gane via unanimous decision. Injuries and a
contract dispute with the promotion kept him sidelined for the
remainder of last year. When the two sides were unable to come to
terms, Ngannou was released and stripped of his title.
UFC president Dana White recently stated that Ngannou “will never
be in the UFC again.” While many of White’s declarations prove to
be false down the road, Ngannou seemed to be on the same page with
the UFC boss. That’s bad news for those hoping a Jones-Ngannou
pairing might come to fruition in the future — especially after
“Bones” recently signed an eight-bout deal with the UFC.
“Fun fight, a fight I’d like to have but unfortunately, we are not
there,” Ngannou said. “That fight didn’t happen, and probably will
never happen now that he’s on a long, very long contract with the
UFC. So, that’s not happening anymore.”