UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and heavyweight destroyer Francis Ngannou have been hyping up a potential superfight that fans would love to see, but UFC president Dana White said this week that he doesn’t see that fight occurring. What happened, and what’s next for Jones? He’s been chronicling the strange sequence of events on Twitter – and former UFC star Chael Sonnen ripped Jones for the way he handled his public negotiation with the UFC.
For days, Jones had been publicly calling for UFC to send him a deal to move up to heavyweight and face Ngannou, who most recently destroyed Jairzinho Rozenstruik in just 20 seconds at UFC 249 – but Jones made it clear that he’s looking for a significant amount of money for the fight to occur. As Jones tweeted, “the question is how much are you willing to pay to see it?”
Send The Deal
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 18, 2020
Some of you have been waiting to see me lose for over a decade, now finally you stick me in there with a giant with your mouthwatering. Maybe you’ll see what you’ve been waiting for for years, maybe you won’t. The question is how much are you willing to pay to see it? pic.twitter.com/FufJuVCaMI
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 18, 2020
The more I think about it if I’m going to be taking big risks, I might as well go for all the cheese. I want that crown too. Send a deal. The Goodwill in Albuquerque is about to get hooked up with some bomb ass 36 waist jeans
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 21, 2020
On Thursday, Jones shared that he was in negotiation with UFC – but talks apparently broke down quickly.
Currently in negotiation with @UFC as we speak
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 21, 2020
unbelievable
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 21, 2020
Before even discussing numbers, the UFC was unwilling to pay more for the Francis super fight / for me to move to heavyweight. Said I could possibly earn more in pay-per-view buys.
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 21, 2020
Maybe when they’re ready to do better business I’ll come back, until then health fitness and family.
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 21, 2020
Just hours later, Jones changed course and said that he wants to fight No. 3-ranked light heavyweight contender Jan Blachowicz.
I’ve had some time to think about it and Im a lot less emotional. Just sad that the ufc doesn’t see my value against the scariest HW in the world. Jan I guess you’re next in line #badbusiness #shocked
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 22, 2020
In a video on his YouTube channel, Sonnen broke down how he believes Jones botched this entire process,
“He wants to fight Francis, he wants a whole bunch more money. Now business is drastically at this point. You guys are all very aware of that. You can’t go to a live show. When you get to a live show that you can’t go to, you cannot buy a t-shirt. You cannot do certain things that are revenue to not only the company, but the industry as a whole. OK, great. So to ask for a raise in this time when you know the finances are different… it’s just a very baffling thing.
But Jon decided that he’s going to go get a whole bunch more money to go fight Francis, and it needs to be for the world championship. Now that might be one of the harder parts. You could, at least in theory, come up with the money. You cannot make a championship match at the heavyweight class that doesn’t involve the champion, who is not named Francis Ngannou. He happens to be named Stipe Miocic. So that part of it got really weird, really fast.”
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