Francis Ngannou is still holding on hope that a fight with Jon Jones happens.
Ngannou parted ways with the UFC and signed with PFL earlier this year, which put a major roadblock on a potential fight with Jones happening.
The UFC isn’t keen on co-promotion, but Ngannou says PFL would be OK with him facing heavyweight champion Jones in the octagon.
“It’s possible, but they have to go to the PFL now,” Ngannou said on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. “The PFL is down for that.”
Rogan asked Ngannou what would happen if he beat Jones and became UFC champion, which Ngannou realized would be an issue. But the former heavyweight champion says fighting Jones isn’t about the belt for him.
“I don’t know, maybe it’ll be a special fight – a special belt or something, maybe not like a UFC belt,” Ngannou said. “To be honest, I don’t worry about the title. The title is not what I worry about. I worry about that fight, that challenge.
“I wouldn’t care if it was a fight without a title. In my mind, I don’t need a UFC title. That fight is bigger than a title. The fight is bigger than a title. Deep inside me, I still have a little bit of hope, even though I know it’s going to be hard. But, you never know.”
Francis Ngannou doesn’t care about UFC belt, says Jon Jones fight would be ‘bigger than a title’
