Dana White doubles down on Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou not happening

Dana White is doubling down on Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou not happening anytime soon.

Ever since Ngannou knocked out Jairzinho Rozenstruik in 20 seconds at UFC 249, Jones has been active saying he wanted that fight.

Yet, on Thursday night, Jones took to social media to say the UFC wasn’t going to pay him any more money to move up. Ngannou also backed that saying the Las Vegas-based promotion wasn’t interested in paying more money.

Now, White has doubled down on the fight not happening anytime soon.

“Jon Jones vs. Ngannou? Obviously, that’s a fight people would love to see and these guys are talking a lot of smack back and forth. [But] I don’t see that fight happening,” Dana White said to ESPN. “I don’t see that fight happening.”

Jones last fought back at UFC 247 in February. There, he beat Dominick Reyes by unanimous decision to defend his light heavyweight title. Before that, he edged out a split decision over Thiago Santos.

Although Jones has options like Jan Blachowicz or a Reyes rematch, he wanted to take a big fight against Ngannou. But, it appears the UFC is not interested in making that happen.

For Francis Ngannou, he is now sitting on the sidelines waiting for his next fight. He was hoping to fight Jones to keep him active while Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier have their trilogy bout.

Now, Ngannou will have to wait for that to happen and wait for the winner to be ready to fight him which could be in a year.

It is no doubt a frustrating time for both Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou as according to Dana White that fight won’t be happening.

What do you make of Dana White doubling down on Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou not happening?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 5/22/2020