Tag: Dana White

Ben Askren relates to Francis Ngannou dealing with Dana White’s wrath: ‘It’s essentially slander’

Speaking from experience, Ben Askren knows if Dana White “doesn’t get exactly what he wants, he just starts crapping on people” – as is the case with Francis Ngannou.

Like [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag], [autotag]Ben Askren[/autotag] had his war of words with UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag].

Last week, White went off on Ngannou by criticizing his character and insisting that he ran away from a fight with Jon Jones by opting to sign with PFL. Askren identifies with Ngannou, recounting his prior experience negotiating with the UFC.

Askren came close to signing with the UFC in 2013, but it never materialized. He was an undefeated Bellator welterweight champion who had defended his title four times, finishing out his contract after a TKO win over Andrey Koreshkov on July 31, 2013.

After White expressed interest in signing Askren, he changed his tune, which caught Askren off guard.

“Dana spent years lying, saying I didn’t want to fight the best, I didn’t want challenges, I was running away, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Askren said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Daniel Cormier. “So, it sucked to have this guy – it’s essentially slander, saying things about me that I knew weren’t true. Dana has this part of his personality when he can’t get what he wants, and in that case, he didn’t offer me a contract, so he kind of got what he wanted.

“But then I think because I was continuing to have success and people were continuing to follow me, he wanted me off in a dark corner where everyone ignored me or something. But he’s done the same thing with Cyborg, I believe Randy Couture had a similar experience, now Francis, but there’s this weird part of Dana’s personality where, if he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, he just starts crapping on people. And because he has a big microphone and he’s generally very truthful and generally correct, people just believe him.”

Askren went on to sign with ONE Championship, where he captured the promotion’s welterweight title and defended it four times. He finally joined the UFC in 2018 after ONE traded him for Demetrious Johnson. Askren submitted Robbie Lawler in his UFC debut in March 2019 but then went on to get finished in back-to-back fights against Jorge Masvidal and Demian Maia before retiring.

Looking back, Askren wished he could have signed with the UFC earlier.

“I wanted to fight the best in 2013 and anytime forward,” Askren continued. “And so then he got me in 2019 when I probably should have had hip replacement prior to that, but it was like, ‘Hey, this is my opportunity, I’m going to take it. I don’t care if I’m not optimized where I should be. I get an opportunity, I take an opportunity, and I’m not going to complain about it.’ But, yeah, I would have loved to have that in 2013.”

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Video: UFC CEO Dana White beefs with Francis Ngannou, PFL. Who’s right?

What to make between the Dana White vs. Francis Ngannou and PFL back and forth? We discuss on “Spinning Back Clique.”

There was some big cross-promotional trash talk this past week.

PFL’s [autotag]Donn Davis[/autotag] had some bold claims following their pay-er-view event PFL: Battle of the Giants, and those comments rubbed UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] the wrong way. And as expected, White fired back at Davis while also taking a shot at former UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag], who left the promotion after fighting out his UFC contract in 2022 to fight under the PFL banner.

Were Davis’ comments uncalled-for? Should he continue to agitate and fire shots at White and the UFC? Will White come to terms with Ngannou and his departure from the promotion?

MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Dan Tom, Danny Segura, and host “Gorgeous” George discuss the latest headlines in the White vs. Ngannou and PFL beef.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.

https://youtube.com/live/h6-QMNMPZ9A

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Dana White, UFC ramp up push for Spain in 2025 after Ilia Topuria’s KO of Max Holloway

If the idea of the UFC holding an event in Spain was a tease before, it sounds like a slam dunk now.

ABU DHABI – If the idea of the UFC holding an event in Spain was a tease before, it sounds like a slam dunk now.

After [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), the UFC’s first champion from Spain, defended his featherweight title with a stunning third-round knockout of ex-champ Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) this past Saturday at UFC 308, it may have sealed the deal on a future UFC trip to Spain for the first time.

“I want to go to Spain as bad as Spain wants us to come, so we’re working on it. We’ll get it done there,” UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] said at Etihad Arena after UFC 308. “There’s never been a time where we said we’re going to do something and we don’t do it. We figure it out, and we’ll get it done.

“It’s important for me to go to Spain in ’25, so we’ll figure it out.”

Topuria is the reason that UFC visit to Spain has taken on increased importance. He became the first fighter to knock out Holloway, the reigning “BMF” titleholder – and predicted he’d be the first to do it, too.

Among those on hand to support the rising star was all-time Spanish soccer legend Sergio Ramos, lending credence to Topuria’s global star potential.

Topuria has yet to lose in MMA. In the buildup to UFC 308, he was portrayed as someone who might be just as comfortable at the Met Gala as he would be in an MMA gym, and White said when the UFC has superstars, the needle moves differently – especially when it comes to breaking into new markets.

“This business is star driven, so when we have a South African (champion like Dricus Du Plessis), we want to get to Africa,” White said. “When we have somebody from Spain, we want to get into Spain. Georgia, yes – the answer is yes. We haven’t looked into that yet or what it would take to pull off an event near there. We’re still trying to figure out Spain with the arena situation. But when you look at the performance that Topuria had tonight, we need to get to Spain and figure it out.”

White said arena availability has been an issue in the country – but that if there was no other option, he’d be forced to get past his dislike of outdoor stadium shows.

“If we have to, we will. I’d prefer not to. All the arenas were booked up. We’re trying to figure it out. But if I have to go to a stadium (for Topuria in Spain), we will,” White said.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

Ilia Topuria def. Max Holloway via knockout (punches) – Round 3, 1:34

Overreaction Time: Ilia Topuria era upon us, Khamzat Chimaev the boogeyman, Dana White goes too far, more!

Check out the latest episode of “Overreaction Time” as host Simon Samano and Nolan King cover the fallout from UFC 308 and much more.

The time for overreacting is here!

Check out the latest episode of “Overreaction Time” at noon ET/9 a.m. PT as host Simon Samano and MMA Junkie reporter Nolan King debate these “overreactions” on the following topics in mixed martial arts:

  • [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] will STILL be UFC featherweight champion at the end of 2025.
  • [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag] is unstoppable and therefore his UFC title reign is inevitable.
  • Forget about [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] ever reclaiming UFC titles.
  • [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] is COMPLETELY out of bounds and full of sh*t when it comes to [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag].
  • The antitrust settlement approval feels like a bigger win for the UFC than the fighters.
  • Monday’s headline will read: ‘[autotag]Brandon Moreno[/autotag], [autotag]Rose Namajunas[/autotag] primed for UFC title shots’

Watch the full episode in the video above.

Dana White insists Francis Ngannou ran from UFC and Jon Jones fight, criticizes his character

The war of words between Francis Ngannou and Dana White continued when White’s latest salvo blasted Ngannou’s character.

ABU DHABI – The old adage about three sides to every divorce – each side, plus the truth – no doubt comes in to play in MMA on the regular.

That likely is the case in the ongoing war of words between former UFC heavyweight champion and current PFL heavyweight superfights champ [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] and his ex-promoter, UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag], who Saturday brought his latest salvo when he told MMA Junkie he has a personal dislike for Ngannou that goes back years, prior to when he became the UFC heavyweight champion.

But recency bias and revisionist history also seem to come into play in MMA on the regular, and though he touted Ngannou as the proverbial “baddest man on the planet” while he was his heavyweight titleholder – and even famously said [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] should reconsider moving to heavyweight, where Ngannou would be waiting, and should drop to middleweight, instead – White now says Ngannou ran from Jones, and then White got what he wanted, which was Ngannou out of the company.

“(Ngannou) didn’t want that fight (with Jones),” White told MMA Junkie after UFC 308 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi. “He could have stayed and took that fight. He didn’t want that fight. Tom Aspinall deserves that fight.”

Former light heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC), who won the vacant belt against Ciryl Gane after Ngannou left the UFC for the PFL, is set to fight former champ Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) in three weeks in the UFC 309 main event at Madison Square Garden. Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) currently holds the interim heavyweight title and presumably will fight the Jones-Miocic winner.

Ngannou (17-3) maintains he left in a contract dispute, and this past week said he suspects White has been hoping for him to fail outside the UFC. Since he left, Ngannou lost two boxing matches to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, then made his PFL debut with a quick first-round finish of 2023 champ Renan Ferreira in the PFL: Battle of the Giants pay-per-view headliner eight days ago in Saudi Arabia.

Instead, White pointed to Ngannou’s fight against Derrick Lewis at UFC 226, one fight after he lost a title shot to Miocic in January 2018. That bout, which Lewis won by decision, has been widely panned as one of the worst heavyweight fights in the promotion’s history – at least relative to the expectations on paper going into it.

“When have you ever heard a story in all the years (about us owing a fighter money)? We’ve been a business, even when it was upside down, where we owed somebody money – never happened. So he’s full of sh*t there. Then (he says) I lost? I didn’t lose anything. I was done with Francis after the – he actually owes me money, because we had to watch that fight with him and the ‘Black Beast.’ He should actually pay me back for that fight, and all of you. And me praying for (him to fail) – trust me: I don’t think about Francis that much.

“You guys asked me the question about the PFL (last week), and I responded. Other than that, the only one who’s praying for his demise is probably the PFL, because they signed a sh*tty contract with a guy that doesn’t deliver any numbers and ticket sales or pay-per-views, and they’ve got to keep paying this guy for however long. Good for him – not good for them.”

In recent months, White has maintained a stance that Jones is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, despite the fact he has fought just twice in the past five years. But he said in spite of that, his personal thoughts on Ngannou go back a lot farther than his contract dispute.

White implied that in his opinion, the quality of Ngannou’s character was not in line with the kind of fighter he wants to have part of the promotion, but did not explicitly detail reasons why.

“Let me tell you what: There were two guys here. I wanted to cut him. Some day, I’ll tell you the story,” White said. “I was all about Francis in the beginning, and then I found out who Francis was. I told the two guys who asked me not to cut Francis, ‘When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.’ Believe me: I have no sleepless nights over Francis leaving.

“I didn’t like Francis as a person – wasn’t a guy I wanted to do business with. I didn’t like Francis. My boys were telling me he’s misunderstood, and I told them when somebody shows you who they are, believe them. It wasn’t about him becoming the heavyweight champion of the world. Francis isn’t a good guy. He plays the good guy – ‘I don’t understand the (English) language’ – so he seems like he’s a nice guy. He’s not. He’s just not a guy that I wanted to be in business with, period, end of story, whether he became the champion or not.”

As for the chances of White figuring out a way to have Jones and Ngannou fight each other, don’t count on it as long as Jones is in the UFC and White calls the shots.

Although the MMA world at large only really heard rumblings of a soured White-Ngannou working relationship in the months leading up to his departure from the UFC, White told MMA Junkie the bad vibes go back at least around seven years.

“We’ll never be in business together (again). I mean, you can tell: We don’t like each other,” White said. “And this goes way back. This goes back to before the first Stipe fight (at UFC 220 in Jaunary 2018). He pulled some sh*t before the first Stipe fight, and I said, ‘I’m done with this guy.’ And then Stipe beat the sh*t out of him – great night – and we never had a relationship after that.”

After his loss to Miocic, Ngannou lost to Lewis in mid-2018. White was publicly critical of him during the period of those two losses and said his ego got the best of him.

Later that year, Ngannou knocked out Curtis Blaydes in 45 seconds and won a bonus. He put away former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez in 26 seconds. He stopped former champ Junior dos Santos in 71 seconds. He knocked out Jairzinho Rozenstruik in 20 seconds to get a title shot with Miocic.

After he finished Miocic in the second round, he defended his title against Gane in Jaunary 2022, then left the promotion after his contract was up.

Ngannou’s backstory of his rise from poverty in Africa to homeless on the streets of Paris before he discovered MMA is a famous part of MMA lore. In April, the 38-year-old suffered the tragic death of his 15-month-old son Kobe.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

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Francis Ngannou takes high road after Dana White gripes about UFC departure: ‘What’s the problem here?’

When it comes to Dana White’s continued attempts to paint his UFC departure a certain way, Francis Ngannou is doing his best to go high.

When it comes to [autotag]Dana White[/autotag]’s continued attempts to paint his UFC departure a certain way, [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] is doing his best to take the high road – but he also wants to keep it real.

On Thursday, White was asked to share his thoughts on Ngannou’s performance in his first-round TKO win over Renan Ferreira this past weekend at PFL: Battle of the Giants. The fight marked Ngannou’s return to mixed martial arts for the first time since defending the UFC heavyweight championship in his final promotional appearance against Ciryl Gane in January 2022. One year later, Ngannou left the UFC to sign with the PFL.

Rather than give his take on Ngannou’s in-cage performance, White went out of his way to re-hash how things ended with Ngannou – at least according to him.

“(His performance) was better than Donn Davis’ – way better,” White said with a laugh. “Listen, man, I’m going to tell you what I think about Francis: Francis is all about the money. Francis left because he knew if he fought Jon Jones and didn’t win, it would hurt his chances of making the money he wanted to make. But realistically his deal was bigger here. His deal was bigger here if he stayed in the UFC. I think I told this story a million times. They can deny it all they want. Why the f*ck would I lie? What do I care? It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.”

White later said that he wanted to release Ngannou in 2018 after consecutive losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis, but he didn’t because someone “begged” him not to.

Ngannou responds directly to White

Francis Ngannou and Dana White

Ngannou can’t seem to understand why White won’t stop talking bad about him.

“Regardless of everything that happened, I’m not about him,” Ngannou said Friday in an interview with Sirius XM Fight Nation. “I went out there, did a fight, had a good fight for my son’s memory, but the guy can’t stand – I don’t know what is his problem. He can make everything up as he wants. That’s his problem. I think he needs to make peace with himself. …

“(He) could’ve just said, ‘We didn’t find an agreement. We couldn’t come to a deal, but good luck to him.’ That’s it, you know? Good for him, and we continue our lives. What’s the problem here? I think the problem is he can’t handle this loss.”

And that’s a point Ngannou wants to drive home

“Dana has lost in this situation, and the only thing is that he cannot stand it,” Ngannou said. “Bro, I won everything.”

A big reason why Ngannou couldn’t come to terms with the UFC on a new contract was because the promotion wouldn’t support his desire to venture into boxing. The PFL obliged that request and after signing with the promotion, Ngannou took part in two lucrative fights with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in October 2023 and this past March.

While he lost both matchups in the ring, Ngannou widely has been lauded for finding his way out of a restrictive UFC deal and maximizing his earnings. Ngannou can only imagine how much that bothers White.

“I’m sure he’s been praying for my downfall, but I just keep doing my thing, rising,” Ngannou said. “Since I left the UFC, in many senses, I’m more than what I was. …

“Now I have made more money than I would have ever made in the UFC. I would say maybe twice the money that I could have made in my entire UFC career if I had continued in the UFC. I’m not just saying from the moment that I stopped. Either way, if I have made less money, if I’m not making enough money that I could’ve made in the UFC, that would be my problem. Why is he so pissed about me not making that much money? C’mon, man, live your life.”

Dana White says he consulted Mark Zuckerberg in effort to fix UFC rankings

Will Mark Zuckerberg be the hero Dana White wants to fix the UFC rankings? Time will tell.

[autotag]Dana White[/autotag] is dead-set on finding an alternative methodology to the UFC rankings, so much so that he says he recently reached out to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

In an interview with TNT Sports on Thursday, White kept many of his UFC rankings ideas close to his chest but continued to talk down on the current system of select media outlet representative polling.

“I could go on and on and on but I won’t,” White said. “We literally had meetings this week to work on it. I actually talked to Mark Zuckerberg, too, about AI, so yeah. I’m totally going to fix the rankings. We’re going to make a lot of strong moves here coming into 2025.”

White has become increasingly vocal about his displeasure with the current system, which has been in place since rankings were implemented in February 2013.

Recent gripes have included Renato Moicano staying put after his win over Benoit Saint Denis, Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree’s lack of impact, and Max Holloway being below Justin Gaethje.

White has since indicated that an algorithm-based ranking or alternative system is likely to be installed in the coming months. While White has said he’s having meetings with different groups regarding potential changes, the reference of Zuckerberg marks the first specific name he’s dropped.

Dana White says he wanted to cut Francis Ngannou from UFC in 2018 but was ‘begged’ not to

Dana White says he wanted the UFC to cut Francis Ngannou in 2018, two years before he became heavyweight champion.

ABU DHABI – It appears [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag]’s return to MMA didn’t change [autotag]Dana White[/autotag]’s mind about his departure from the UFC.

Days after Ngannou (18-3) pounded out Renan Ferreira (13-4) at PFL: Battle of the Giants, White was asked his impressions of the fight during a Power Slap 9 post-event press conference Thursday.

“(His performance) was better than Donn Davis’ – way better,” White said with a laugh when speaking to MMA Junkie and other reporters. “Listen, man, I’m going to tell you what I think about Francis: Francis is all about the money. Francis left because he knew if he fought Jon Jones and didn’t win, it would hurt his chances of making the money he wanted to make. But realistically his deal was bigger here. His deal was bigger here if he stayed in the UFC. I think I told this story a million times. They can deny it all they want. Why the f*ck would I lie? What do I care? It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.”

While White’s claims of Ngannou leaving the UFC to avoid fighting Jon Jones are nothing new, the UFC CEO mentioned an additional detail. White said that, after Ngannou suffered consecutive losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis in 2018, he wanted to cut the future UFC heavyweight champion.

“I was going to cut Francis when he lost two in a row,” White said. “I was going to cut him. Somebody around here begged me not to do it. It wouldn’t have mattered to me one way or the other. There’s a much deeper story to this whole thing. He would’ve made more money if he would’ve stayed in the UFC. He didn’t want to fight Jon Jones. That’s a fact, my friend. We’re moving on.”

Ngannou’s 2023 departure from the UFC was an unprecedented move, as he vacated the promotion’s heavyweight title to venture into free agency. Ngannou competed in lucrative boxing crossover fights vs. Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua before his MMA return Saturday in Saudi Arabia.

Ngannou has disputed White’s claims that he would’ve been paid more had he stayed, even going as far as to say he would provide the numbers if need be. White has remained unwavering in his counterclaims, however.

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Dana White: Donn Davis and ‘PFL should keep the UFC out of their mouth’

Dana White brought receipts to diss the PFL and compared Donn Davis to Kamala Harris.

ABU DHABI – What initially started years ago as a distant yet respectful relationship (at least publicly) between the UFC and PFL has slowly turned into a bit of a feud.

Days after PFL: Battle of the Giants took place, [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] was asked about recent claims made by Donn Davis that PFL was beating UFC in some statistical categories. Unsurprisingly, White did not agree. What was a surprise was that he came prepared with a printout and rattled off statistical comparisons between Power Slap and PFL.

“First of all, the PFL should keep the UFC out of their mouth,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters Thursday. “They can’t even deal with Power Slap. Power Slap destroys PFL. It’s weird that you ask those questions because I just happen to have some papers here.”

After listing off stats of social media posts and views, White took exception with Davis’ interview Wednesday with MMA Fighting, during which the PFL CEO claimed he does not watch MMA outside of his own brand.

“I can keep going on for a f*cking month here,” White said. “Then, if you want to get into what he said about the UFC, I have a laundry list here. But let me just start with this: UFC Vegas 84 at the Apex beat them. So listen, I understand and I love the stuff that he said. He sounds like Kamala (Harris). He talks a lot but says nothing. I would hate to be one of that guys’ investors. ‘I don’t watch MMA. I’ve worked seven years and have never taken a vacation.’ You should probably take a vacation. You’re out of your f*cking mind, dude. You should probably take a vacation.

“I have a list here. I will have Lenee (Breckenridge) get you guys this list of all these numbers. But that guy shouldn’t even mention the UFC. He’s not even in Power Slap’s (realm). Then today he was talking about how ‘there’s all kinds of combination packages and stuff how this works.’ He doesn’t beat Power Slap in revenue. He doesn’t beat Power Slap in ticket sales. He doesn’t beat Power Slap in sponsorship. He doesn’t beat Power Slap in anything, let alone the UFC.”

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Prior to PFL’s acquisition of Bellator in late 2023, the promotion was not frequently mentioned by White in interviews. However, now that the landscape has changed, White has been asked about PFL with increased frequency. He initially spoke with respect when talking about PFL, Davis, and the rest of the ownership group.

Over time, however, the jockeying for credit in the public arena has increased. PFL and Davis have attempted to paint themselves in the same light as the UFC in a more aggressive manner than former Bellator president Scott Coker did during his tenure as the UFC’s biggest competitor.

In response, White’s putdowns have also picked up. On a nearly weekly basis during Dana White’s Contender Series, White would be asked about PFL – and gladly embrace the opportunity to talk down on the brand.

Donn Davis: PFL will have world’s best heavyweight after Saturday, not UFC

In one man’s opinion, talk of the world’s top heavyweight should be focused on Saudi Arabia on Saturday, not New York in November.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – As far as [autotag]Donn Davis[/autotag] is concerned, talk about the world’s top heavyweight should be focused on Saudi Arabia on Saturday, not New York in November.

Put simpler, the promotion’s co-owner thinks the PFL will have the best heavyweight in MMA after Saturday, not the UFC. And further, Davis implied that disputing that claim would take a cross-promotion of some kind with the UFC – an idea CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] essentially never has been keen to.

At PFL: Battle of the Giants (DAZN/ESPN+) at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, former UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] (17-3) takes on [autotag]Renan Ferreira[/autotag] (13-3) in a PFL heavyweight superfight title bout. Ngannou has boxed twice since he left the UFC, but hasn’t fought an MMA bout since January 2022 before he left the UFC for the PFL after a contract dispute.

At UFC 309, which takes place Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] (27-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) is a massive favorite upwards of 7-1 against former champ [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC). Jones won the UFC heavyweight title after Ngannou vacated it.

And naturally, depending on which side is asked, the other side is ducking – either Jones or Ngannou.

“Our focus is on this Saturday,” Davis said after a Thursday news conference in Saudi Arabia for the pay-per-view. “This is the biggest fight in MMA in heavyweight this year. Francis, when he left the UFC, he was the pound-for-pound No. 1 and the heavyweight champion. And then Ferreira is the biggest rising star … This is the fight everybody wants to see. Whoever comes out of this fight is the No. 1 in the world. Whoever wants to claim the No. 1 spot goes through the winner of this fight, not through the UFC – this fight. Whoever wants to claim that position better be calling us after Saturday, not calling them.”

Jones has suggested his fight with Miocic might be his swan song. Ngannou is in his late 30s, as well. Absent cross-promotion, and reasonably soon, it seems like a Jones-Ngannou fight is a longshot at best.

But Davis implied it could happen if White wanted it to.

“We’ve said at the PFL we want to give the fans what they want, and that’s the best fights in the world,” Davis said. “Francis Ngannou? He said he’ll take on all comers. I think Jon Jones wants to cement his legacy. There’s only one obstacle to that fight, and we know who that is.”

After the UFC 309 heavyweight title fight between Jones and Miocic, the UFC has interim champ [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] waiting in the wings, as well.

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For more on the cards, visit MMA Junkie’s event hubs for PFL: Battle of the Giants and UFC 309.