Jon Jones has stated in the past that he may look at moving up to the heavyweight division in the future to challenge himself, and one of the UFC’s most powerful heavyweights, Francis Ngannou, would love to welcome him there.
“The Predator” is scheduled to fight former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos in the main event at UFC Minneapolis on Saturday night and if he beats him, it could set up a potential super fight down the line.
Jones, who takes on heavy-hitting Brazilian Thiago Santos in the main event UFC 239 at July 6, recently told TMZ that he would be open to moving up to the heavyweight division. Jones singled out Ngannou as one of those fighters against whom he would like to test himself (via MMA Mania):
“[Ngannou] is a scary dude,” Jones said. “But, that’s why I’m in it, for it to be hard. I’m aware that the greater the challenge, that’s what makes it great. The hard is what makes it great. There’s a lot of fights at the heavyweight division that are always going to be extremely appealing. Cain Velasquez, Francis Ngannou…”
TMZ then reached out to Ngannou to get his thoughts on a potential fight and the 32-year-old said he’d be open to fight Jones and that it would make sense even from a size perspective:
“Personally, I mean, it would be a good fight, first of all for the fans, for me, yes. Even though Jon Jones is a light heavyweight, this guy has made his legacy, dominating the whole division. He’s a big dude. I met him once, we almost, we are the same height, we are almost the same thing. I might just have a few pounds on him. That would be a legit fight. I’m here for the challenge, but I just want to take things one at a time. I don’t want to mix them up. But yes, I would definitely want that fight.”