Daniel Cormier: It's 'not true' that Francis Ngannou left UFC to avoid Jon Jones

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upload_2023-1-16_11-14-35.jpegDaniel Cormier rejects the notion that Francis Ngannou parted ways with the UFC so he didn’t have to fight Jon Jones.

The heavyweight division received a major shakeup Saturday when UFC president Dana White announced that Ngannou (17-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) had been stripped of the title and was exiting the promotion after the two sides failed to come to terms on a new contract.

White stated Ngannou wanted to fight “lesser competition for more money” and wasn’t super keen on sharing the octagon with Jones. Cormier, a UFC Hall of Famer and two-time opponent of Jones, disagrees with that notion and was happy to see Ngannou get the freedom to choose his next career move.
With Ngannou leaving and the belt becoming vacant, Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) will now face Ciryl Gane (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the main event of UFC 285 on March 4 in Las Vegas. No matter who wins that fight, though, Cormier said they are in a tough battle with public perception.

“Isn’t it ironic that Jon Jones is fighting for a vacant championship? Do you guys remember what I went through when I won the (vacant) belt?” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Now it’s different. Jon hasn’t fought Francis before, but isn’t it ironic that he’s in this situation now? My advice to you, Jon, is get thick skin, because people will be unrelenting. Right now, because Francis left, it’s almost like Francis avoided Jones. That’s not true.

Francis would’ve fought Jon Jones on any day of the week. Let’s not get crazy, fans. Fans always come up with these ideas, but trust me: Jones, it’s going to flip to, ‘Is he the real champion, because he didn’t beat Francis Ngannou?’ if he wins that fight against Ciryl Gane. Which is not guaranteed, because Ciryl Gane is as good as they come.”Politics aside, Cormier said he’s highly anticipating the clash between Jones and Gane. It will be Jones’ return to competition after a 37-month layoff, and Gane has proven himself to be elite in recent years.
Cormier said he intends to be on commentary at UFC 285 and is eager to see the way the two skill sets mix.

“I honestly believe this matchup is a much better matchup for us as fans, because technically you have two guys that are going to be as skilled as we have ever seen in the heavyweight division,” Cormier said. “This is coming from me, a guy that has fought in the heavyweight division, has held the championship, that fought some of the best in the world.

“Ciryl Gane’s movements and the way he attacks is going to make him very difficult for Jones. Because as good as Jones is, Jones isn’t a guy that moves very much. He’s very stationary and going forward. He’s long, so he uses those long-range weapons to really take control of guys like me and other guys he fought in the octagon. But he’s not a guy that moves around and creates a ton of angles. A lot of straight and long-range weapons. … The issue with Ciryl Gane is you’re going to have a bigger guy that possesses a lot of those same qualities with the ability to move.”
 
The Jones fight was probably going to be Ngannou's best selling fight in the UFC. Ngannou was probably only going to resign to lock it down. If he could beat one of the goats, his legacy would be even higher after, so of course the UFC probably bundled it with a 8 fight deal so he couldn't run off after.
 
Last Falconry said:
does anyone think that? wasn't Francis pretty openly campaigning for the fight with Jones? who is he even talking to
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Well Dana tried to make it sound like Francis wanted to go elsewhere to make big money vs easier opponents instead of fighting Jon
 
I think Ngannou was happy to take the Jones fight...on terms he'd never get financially. He knows his fighting days are numbered and he wants as many bigger fights (or alternatively fairly well paying low risk fights) as he can get. Fighting Jones is somewhat high risk if he were to lose, so he wanted to be compensated for that. His best payday:risk fight is big-money a boxing match with Fury, where he'll get his ass kicked but can get at least one more big payout in MMA after, hopefully.
 
This fucking guy. He always has the dumbest takes to try and justify his own career.

People didn't think DC was the champ and shit on him as a paper champion when he won the vacant belt because he'd literally lost to Jones 3 months prior in a title fight. There was zero justification to say he was the best in the world, regardless of the fact he now held the belt. We'd just seen 3 months ago he wasn't. And then Jon proved it again when DC tried defending against him.

Jon may not be fighting Ngannou for the belt, but he also isn't immediately coming off losing to him. That's wildly different than DC's situation and why nobody thought he was champ. Jon will face nowhere near the amount of criticism as DC did because we don't know if he's not better than Ngannou.

Especially considering the actual comparison here is on Gane's side, not Jones. If Gane wins nobody will think he's the best as he's already lost to Ngannou. Gane is the DC equivalent here, not Jones. Yet DC instead shits on Jones because it's what he himself went through and he wants Jones to go through the same even though Jones isn't in his position.
 
I can't help but notice that DC is trying to pretend like Jones never had to fight for the vacant LHW belt after DC himself chose to get stripped over having to defend, and likely lose again, against him.

This fucking guy.

haha-agamemnon.gif
 
That double leg has Francis shook to the core.
 
Only Here for Attachments said:
Fatso telling anyone to get thick skin <Lmaoo>
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His point also makes zero sense. People called him a paper champ because he'd literally lost to Jones 3 months prior when he had his own title shot. We'd all seen Jon was the better fighter, there was zero ability to claim DC was the real and rightful champ then. Which was then just further solidified when Jon beat him again when DC tried to defend against him.

DC was a paper champion by every definition. It's why nobody said he was the "real" champion after he chose to be stripped instead of having to defend against Jones again for a trilogy fight. We all knew Jon was better anyways so when he won the title again against Gus nobody pretended like DC was the true champion.

It also makes no sense to try and levy his own situation to Jones when it's Gane who is his equivalent here. Gane already had a title shot against Ngannou and lost. It's Gane who if he wins will be looked at as the paper champion like DC was as we already know he's not better than Ngannou. Jon winning would still leave it a mystery as to whether or not he's better than Ngannou. There'll be questions sure (barring an extremely dominant performance), but nothing like if he were coming off of an immediate loss to Ngannou like DC was.

tomjones said:
Another way of looking at it is Jones came back to the ufc when Ngannou left.
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Except we know Jon accepted Ngannou, Stipe, and Gane for March 4.

Gane's the only one who accepted him back.
 
That’s wild that he has to address such a ridiculous thing. I think Jones could possibly do well against Cyril. I think Ngannou would make real easy work of jones.
 
Sick85 said:
View attachment 963266Daniel Cormier rejects the notion that Francis Ngannou parted ways with the UFC so he didn’t have to fight Jon Jones.

The heavyweight division received a major shakeup Saturday when UFC president Dana White announced that Ngannou (17-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) had been stripped of the title and was exiting the promotion after the two sides failed to come to terms on a new contract.

White stated Ngannou wanted to fight “lesser competition for more money” and wasn’t super keen on sharing the octagon with Jones. Cormier, a UFC Hall of Famer and two-time opponent of Jones, disagrees with that notion and was happy to see Ngannou get the freedom to choose his next career move.
With Ngannou leaving and the belt becoming vacant, Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) will now face Ciryl Gane (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the main event of UFC 285 on March 4 in Las Vegas. No matter who wins that fight, though, Cormier said they are in a tough battle with public perception.

“Isn’t it ironic that Jon Jones is fighting for a vacant championship? Do you guys remember what I went through when I won the (vacant) belt?” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Now it’s different. Jon hasn’t fought Francis before, but isn’t it ironic that he’s in this situation now? My advice to you, Jon, is get thick skin, because people will be unrelenting. Right now, because Francis left, it’s almost like Francis avoided Jones. That’s not true.

Francis would’ve fought Jon Jones on any day of the week. Let’s not get crazy, fans. Fans always come up with these ideas, but trust me: Jones, it’s going to flip to, ‘Is he the real champion, because he didn’t beat Francis Ngannou?’ if he wins that fight against Ciryl Gane. Which is not guaranteed, because Ciryl Gane is as good as they come.”Politics aside, Cormier said he’s highly anticipating the clash between Jones and Gane. It will be Jones’ return to competition after a 37-month layoff, and Gane has proven himself to be elite in recent years.
Cormier said he intends to be on commentary at UFC 285 and is eager to see the way the two skill sets mix.

“I honestly believe this matchup is a much better matchup for us as fans, because technically you have two guys that are going to be as skilled as we have ever seen in the heavyweight division,” Cormier said. “This is coming from me, a guy that has fought in the heavyweight division, has held the championship, that fought some of the best in the world.

“Ciryl Gane’s movements and the way he attacks is going to make him very difficult for Jones. Because as good as Jones is, Jones isn’t a guy that moves very much. He’s very stationary and going forward. He’s long, so he uses those long-range weapons to really take control of guys like me and other guys he fought in the octagon. But he’s not a guy that moves around and creates a ton of angles. A lot of straight and long-range weapons. … The issue with Ciryl Gane is you’re going to have a bigger guy that possesses a lot of those same qualities with the ability to move.”
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Of course that's not why. To suggest either of the guys is afraid of the other is pretty silly imo
 
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