Jon Jones sees Most Valuable Promotions as a potential ticket to fighting Francis Ngannou.
Ngannou (19-3) called out Jones after knocking out Philipe Lins in Round 1 on Saturday on the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano main card at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC), who worked as an analyst for the event, responded to Ngannou’s callout with enthusiasm. However, being under UFC contract will make things difficult for the former two-division champion.
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“I’ve got to focus on trying to get out of my UFC contract,” Jones said during the broadcast (h/t MVP). “That’s going to be the difficult part if this fight is going to happen, doing it outside. I don’t think Dana (White) is interested in doing business with Francis. So doing it with MVP would probably be the only way to make it happen. If we can get out my contract, that would be great.”
Jones, who vacated his UFC heavyweight title, put an asterisk on the notion that Ngannou is the No. 1 heavyweight.
“Tonight he looked good, but he also fought against a guy that weighed like 220 pounds,” Jones said of Ngannou. “That guy was afraid to engage with Francis. He definitely wasn’t on the same kickboxing level as Francis, but I thought Francis was very impressive tonight. He’s starting to throw kicks. He threw really nice high kicks tonight. So, I’m just excited to see what’s next for him.”
More: MVP ‘more than willing’ to co-promote Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones with UFC
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Jones was asked by his publicist, Denise White, if he’s going to fight again after saying “he thinks he’s retired” during the broadcast – and his response surprised her.
“I don’t know. I think getting out of my UFC contract is very, very possible,” Jones said (h/t Freak MMA). “I need to find the right people. I need to find the right channels – or just put more effort into it. I really wanted to box. If I would have put all my energy into just my hands and combinations and punching power, I think I’d really surprise a lot of people. I would love to box. That would be a lot of fun.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Jon Jones focused on finding way out of UFC contract to fight Ngannou
