The saviour of boxing, Turki Alalshikh believes he can also become the saviour of a huge MMA fight that slipped under our fingers between Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou.
During Francis Ngannou‘s reign over the UFC heavyweight division, Jon Jones was out of action, bulking up and preparing for his eventual move up to the heavyweight division.
Unfortunately though, during the time ‘Bones’ was preparing to move up to heavyweight, Ngannou had a falling out with the UFC brass and ultimately decided to leave the promotion as the champion as he couldn’t come to terms on a new deal.
Turki Alalshikh still wants to make Francis Ngannou vs Jon Jones
After ‘The Predator’ left the UFC, Jones returned and won the vacant heavyweight title, and defended it recently against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.
Despite that, UFC CEO Dana White has continuously claimed that the reason a fight between Jones and Ngannou couldn’t be made, was because Ngannou was asking for huge money. With White’s claims, he and Ngannou have continuously gone back and forth with each other, blaming one another.
However, after becoming well known for saving the sport of boxing, Turki Alalshikh has now begun to dip his toe in the world of MMA, and the UFC held its inaugural event in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
The promotion is set to land back in the Middle East early next year, as they continue their partnership with Riyadh Season.
Turki Alalshikh believes he is in a position where he can convince the UFC boss to make a cross-promotion fight between Jones and Ngannou, finally giving the fans what they want.
“I have on the table two options for Francis. One in MMA and one in boxing, I want to discuss with him,” Turki Alalshikh told Ariel Helwani.
“In MMA, you know, all the time my answer is all the time we want to do the biggest (fights). (Yes it’s Jon Jones), we need to send Dana White to the moon,” Alalshikh continued.
White has continuously stated that he is not interested in cross-promotion events with the PFL or any other promotions, making Alalshikh’s task a difficult one.
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Francis Ngannou continues to call out Jon Jones
‘The Predator’ finally returned to MMA this past October, making his PFL debut against Renan Ferreira at ‘The Battle of the Giants’.
The former UFC heavyweight champion went on to win the PFL heavyweight super-fight title, showcasing that he is still one of the most dangerous fighters in the cage.
Following Jones’ recent win over Ngannou’s old rival, Miocic, the 38-year-old called for an eventual fight against ‘Bones’.
“Blessings make haters uncomfortable, but they can’t change it. There’s only one fight, the right fight that will multiply your blessings. #NgannouVSJones,” Ngannou stated in a post on X.
The UFC is currently working to try and get Jones to accept a title unification fight against interim champion, Tom Aspinall, which Aspinall is confident will come to fruition.
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