Francis Ngannou understands where Jon Jones is coming from when asking for a big payday.
Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC), who claimed the UFC heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of Stipe Miocic this past weekend at UFC 260, already has a potential superfight with former light heavyweight king Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) on the horizon, but “Bones” wants to be compensated for it.
UFC president Dana White has suggested Jones is pricing himself out on purpose to avoid the fight, but Ngannou disagrees. He thinks Jones genuinely wants to fight him, and in a matchup of this magnitude, both deserve to get paid.
“I believe that Jon Jones wants this fight,” Ngannou told TMZ Sports. “I believe he’ll want it to happen because it’s going to be a massive fight, mega-fight – basically one of the biggest. I mean, he’s been around so long, and he’s been champ for a very long time, but I think this might be the biggest fight of his career, in mine. So I think he wants that thing. He wants to put something like this on his legacy, on his resume, so I truly believe he wants this fight to happen.
“As far as the (numbers), yeah, he’s asking for money. He said, ‘Show me the money,’ but I think it makes sense. I think for a mega-fight everyone would like to have mega-pay, (same) as mine. I want that fight. I would like to have good pay, and every other fighter out there would like that, so there’s nothing irrational in this. Everything is just normal. Everybody is expecting we are doing this in order to one day have a big payday, a big fight day, and when that moment comes, you are like, ‘I wish I had what I wanted.’ So I believe in it, and I see ‘Show the money,’ for me, proof that, yes, he really wants, or if you show the money, he’s going to fight.”
Jones has been bulking up into a heavyweight frame since relinquishing his 205-pound title in August. But knockout artist Ngannou thinks no matter how much size Jones puts on, he’ll have a significant strength advantage.
“My message to Jon would be to get ready and to be serious, to put in serious work, because he’s going to have the biggest challenge of his life,” Ngannou said. “I won’t be going there to play with him like those guys have been doing. It’s going to feel different. He can put whatever weight he wants on him, that doesn’t take anything less from my strength or my power.”
Francis Ngannou: Jon Jones not ‘irrational’ for asking for more money to fight me
