Dana White is ‘100%’ confident in Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou prediction

Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou will go down in history as one of the greatest UFC fights that never happened. Had this colossal fight taken place, the promotion’s CEO, Dana White, is confident that Jones would have won just as easily as he did against Ciryl Gane last year.

“In my opinion, (Jones) is doing the same thing to Francis (what he did to Gane),” White said during an appearance on the Club Shay Shay podcast. “100 percent, he does the same with Francis.”

Jones, the most dominant light heavyweight in MMA history, and one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport, met Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023. It was his first fight in the heavyweight division and his chance to win a to become a two-time champion. division champion, with the vacant weight class title on the line. He won the fight with ease and submitted Gane within a round.

Ngannou, meanwhile, ruled the UFC heavyweight division until parting ways with the promotion in early 2023. He defeated Gane by unanimous decision in his last fight in the Octagon.

“(Jones) already went to heavyweight and ran through (Gane),” White said. ‘Francis Ngannou barely got through Ciryl Gane.

“Jon Jones walked through him.”

Ngannou left the UFC because he felt he was underpaid by the promotion, and because his contract did not allow him to seek lucrative opportunities in the boxing ring.

Until he left the promotion, he and Jones were constantly linked, but that never happened.

According to White, that’s not a lack of trying. The UFC boss is also convinced that the fight’s failure had nothing to do with Jones’ reluctance.

“We did everything we could to get Jon Jones to fight, but it is what it is,” he said.

“Jon Jones is not afraid of Francis,” he added. “Francis doesn’t want to fight Jon Jones.”

Jones defended the light heavyweight title 13 times over the course of two title reigns, defeating some of the best fighters in the division’s history along the way. The only loss on his record came when he was disqualified for illegally elbowing Matt Hamill 12-6 years before he won the title for the first time.

That run, though, by White’s estimation, makes the two-division champion “the worst fighter that ever lived in any combat sport.”

“Jon Jones is undefeated in the UFC,” White said. “He has one loss to his name. He lost to Steve Mazzagatti. You know that’s true? He’s the worst (power) referee to ever referee a fight. (Jones) never lost, and he went through the murderer’s row. Then he goes out for three years, comes back and beats Ciryl Gane with ease.”

Jones has not fought since winning the vacant title last year by defeating Gane, but has been regularly linked with a title fight against former champion Stipe Miocic. In the time since he’s been gone, the promotion has crowned Tom Aspinall interim heavyweight champion, but the plan still appears to be for Jones to fight Miocic before attempting to unify the titles.

Ngannou, meanwhile, was quickly rewarded after leaving the UFC, scoring a blockbuster boxing match with heavyweight star Tyson Fury. Despite being a massive underdog entering the ring, he shocked viewers by dropping Fury and coming up short with a narrow decision loss. He was later booked for a boxing match with Anthony Joshua, but suffered a brutal knockout loss in the second round and has not fought since.

If the former UFC heavyweight champion ever returns to MMA competition, it will be with the Professional Fighters League, with whom he signed shortly after leaving the UFC.