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INGLEWOOD, Calif. – It would be up to the UFC whether Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou happens or not.
Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, appears to be more than willing to work with Dana White and the UFC in making the heavyweight superfight come to fruition.
Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion, fought for MVP on Saturday night, knocking out Philipe Lins at their inaugural MMA event on Netflix. After the fight, Ngannou expressed once again his interest in fighting Jones, who was in attendance and even engaged with Ngannou afterward. These comments were met with similar energy from Jones, who said on the Netflix broadcast that he wants to get out of his UFC contract so he can finally fight Ngannou.
At the MVP MMA 1 post-fight press conference, Bidarian suggested the idea of co-promoting with the UFC.
"If you look at the boxing landscape, co-promotion happens all the time," Bidarian said. "If you look at MMA outside the UFC, co-promotion happens all the time. If you look at the NBA, they go to Europe and play other teams. They go to Asia, and they play against Asian teams. They go to Australia, and they play against Australian teams. It happens all the time. The biggest moment the UFC has had in history was a co-promotion. It was with Mayweather and McGregor. It was the biggest associated event Dana has touched in terms of revenue. So hopefully there is a door, hopefully that can happen. We're more than willing. There are no hurt feelings. There's no, 'Hey, we can't work with them because they take shots at us.' Exactly the opposite: Let's do it and make it a moment the world stops and enjoys these two men who are at the crescendo of their careers, probably given their careers and wear and tear, especially with Jon. The fans deserve it. The sport deserves it, and we'd love to do it."
Bidarian is all in but doesn't like the chances of White and the UFC being on board.
"I don't think it's realistic because I don't think Dana is going to allow that in any way, shape, or form because they know it will be the biggest fight that can happen at the heavyweight division in a long time," Bidarian said. "I wish it could happen, and I think Jon deserves that moment. I think the sport deserves that moment."
Jones and Ngannou have been angling to fight each other for many years. The bout somewhat came close to happening in 2022 when Ngannou was offered around $8 million to fight Jones. However, Ngannou had many issues with the way UFC contracts work and wanted several changes for him to re-sign with the promotion – including the ability to compete in boxing. UFC didn't oblige, and Ngannou ended up walking away as a free agent in early 2023.
Since then, the two have continued teasing a fight against each other. However, White is not keen on having Ngannou back in the UFC, and Jones has multiple fights left on his UFC contract and can't fight elsewhere without permission.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones isn't 'realistic' – and it's UFC's fault
Continue reading...
Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, appears to be more than willing to work with Dana White and the UFC in making the heavyweight superfight come to fruition.
Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion, fought for MVP on Saturday night, knocking out Philipe Lins at their inaugural MMA event on Netflix. After the fight, Ngannou expressed once again his interest in fighting Jones, who was in attendance and even engaged with Ngannou afterward. These comments were met with similar energy from Jones, who said on the Netflix broadcast that he wants to get out of his UFC contract so he can finally fight Ngannou.
At the MVP MMA 1 post-fight press conference, Bidarian suggested the idea of co-promoting with the UFC.
"If you look at the boxing landscape, co-promotion happens all the time," Bidarian said. "If you look at MMA outside the UFC, co-promotion happens all the time. If you look at the NBA, they go to Europe and play other teams. They go to Asia, and they play against Asian teams. They go to Australia, and they play against Australian teams. It happens all the time. The biggest moment the UFC has had in history was a co-promotion. It was with Mayweather and McGregor. It was the biggest associated event Dana has touched in terms of revenue. So hopefully there is a door, hopefully that can happen. We're more than willing. There are no hurt feelings. There's no, 'Hey, we can't work with them because they take shots at us.' Exactly the opposite: Let's do it and make it a moment the world stops and enjoys these two men who are at the crescendo of their careers, probably given their careers and wear and tear, especially with Jon. The fans deserve it. The sport deserves it, and we'd love to do it."
Bidarian is all in but doesn't like the chances of White and the UFC being on board.
"I don't think it's realistic because I don't think Dana is going to allow that in any way, shape, or form because they know it will be the biggest fight that can happen at the heavyweight division in a long time," Bidarian said. "I wish it could happen, and I think Jon deserves that moment. I think the sport deserves that moment."
Jones and Ngannou have been angling to fight each other for many years. The bout somewhat came close to happening in 2022 when Ngannou was offered around $8 million to fight Jones. However, Ngannou had many issues with the way UFC contracts work and wanted several changes for him to re-sign with the promotion – including the ability to compete in boxing. UFC didn't oblige, and Ngannou ended up walking away as a free agent in early 2023.
Since then, the two have continued teasing a fight against each other. However, White is not keen on having Ngannou back in the UFC, and Jones has multiple fights left on his UFC contract and can't fight elsewhere without permission.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones isn't 'realistic' – and it's UFC's fault
Continue reading...
