Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou finally met face to face at PFL 5 card in Atlanta on Friday night.
While an actual fight between them seems unlikely to ever happen – at least anytime in the near future – the heavyweights still stare at each other while they share a few words. At one point, Jones could be heard telling Lenganu “you don’t want to smoke” as the fighters continued to smile while speaking, while PFLP chief Ray Sevo watched the situation.
At one point, both fighters claimed to be the heavyweight king, which led to Jones shaking hands and adding, “We’ll see.”
The conversation continued with Jones asking Nganno if he wrestled, adding that he would “take over a year” to prepare for his wrestling level. Ngannou indicated that he followed Jones’ fight during his last two years in the UFC, but Jones was nowhere to be found. In response, Jones said, “I had to get big enough to kick your ass.”
While they continued to talk, there was no real animosity between them then and no one got physical before Jones and Ngannou finally broke up.
This could be one of the greatest fights that will never happen, although anything can happen in the future.
For now, Ngannou expects his PFL debut to happen sometime in 2024, while Jones is spinning a showdown with former UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic later this year.