Jones ducked Ngannou and no amount of rationalizing made by anyone (not necessarily you) can refute that.
Jones asked for at least 3x more (Deontay Wilder money) than what Conor got in his biggest fight in the UFC. That is a FACT. It's also blatant ducking. Which is what he's doing again, right now.
He wanted a big pay bump that was worthy of a super fight. Rightfully so, as Jones is one of the few stars the UFC has left, he was right to push for more as there's a good chance he's been underpaid heavily, relative to how much he brings in.
When they throw out numbers in business negotiations, often times it will start with a big number and they'll meet in the middle somewhere. Which is basically what Jones said as well.
I think the most important part is that whatever he wanted, the UFC finally agreed to pay him after a lot of negotiating.
People acting like negotiating for a better contract and fighting for their worth is ducking, which is ridiculous.
It's also exactly what Francis did for a year before he even left. It's what Conor did for a year before he finally fought khabib.
Should they just shut their mouths and accept whatever peanuts the ufc decides to pay them, unquestionably, otherwise risk being labeled a coward?
According to the UFC, Dana, even Chael, Jones had already come to an agreement in mid 2022, which is also when Jones said he was finally ready to fight.
This was in the middle of Ngannous highly public contract negotiations. The media was very vocal that they were still figuring it out, meanwhile Dana, the UFC and media said they were looking to get Jones a fight.
He was briefly linked to fight Stipe in December of that year, before finally being linked to the march card. Which, he actually did end up fighting on.
Furthermore, they offered Ngannou a contract which specifically stated he would be fighting Jones for 8 million dollars, it was the capstone of the entire deal.
Do you think they offered him a contract like that in writing under the contingency that Jones might sign? No. He was already signed. He was already linked to the march card to fight for the HW title.
By the time the fight was actually possible, Ngannou decided not to sign.
If Ngannou signed the contract, it would've happened. It's really that simple.
Jones is the one who called out ngannou to begin with before anyone even thought of the match, he's the one who called him out again frank fought Gane. But in spite of this, you think it was all fake and he was in fact terrified.
According to Chael, Jones agreed to fight Frank, Pavlovich and Gane. Someone we know is privy to insider information. Dana said the same thing. On top of that, frank was literally offered the Jones fight for 8 million.
Not only that, but Jones spent 2 years gaining the weight, entirely from the beginning, the purpose was for a super fight at HW which warranted a huge pay bump. The only fight possible for him was the HW title, it's very clear that's what he was preparing and gaining for to begin with.
So do you think he just did it for show and never actually planned on fighting at HW?
Was the media lying about Jones being back, while at the same time extremely transparent about Ngannous ongoing negotiations?
it's very strange after all of this to still go with the Jones ducked tripe, when all of the evidence is showing the exact opposite.