The timeline of Jon Jones refusing to fight Ngannou

[JohnMandick]

I feel like most people are sensible enough to know that no one ducked anyone here. Terms simply could not be met between the 3 involved parties.

Only people with an agenda NEED it to be one guy ducked the other.


Ngannou made the best decision for his career.

Jones made the best decision for his career.

I agree with you except the "3 involved parties" part.

No problem with the fighters trying to get the max payout.

Huge problem with the UFC letting Jones hold up the division for so long and for giving an Interm belt when they should have stripped Jones of the title.

 

[RockyLockridge]

I agree with you except the "3 involved parties" part.

No problem with the fighters trying to get the max payout.

Huge problem with the UFC letting Jones hold up the division for so long and for giving an Interm belt when they should have stripped Jones of the title.

these are 2 different conversations one about aspinall the other about ngannou

 

[Motivated BJ Penn]

Tom and Jones is a completely different situation with the fight in negotiations right now.

You clearly don't know the situation with Ngannou and Jones, so I would keep quiet. Ngnannou himself came out on Ariels podcast and said himself he was offered the Jones fight for UFC 285 and declined it. Jon fought on the event vs a different opponent after Francis declined, was stripped and left.

You are a fool if you think Jones was ever willing to fight Ngannou. Yeah Im sure he was offered the fight multiple times, by the ufc, just like they offered the fight to Aspinall. It doesnt mean Jones would accept.

Its such a coincidence that Jones was bulking for 3 years for a HW fight and asking 30 mil payday, then as soon as Big Frank left the ufc he was magically ready to fight another tailored made HW for peanuts...

 

[Fahcough]

no fighter anywhere vs any opponent deserves even 1 million. People are ignorant.

 

[JKS]

You are a fool if you think Jones was ever willing to fight Ngannou. Yeah Im sure he was offered the fight multiple times, by the ufc, just like they offered the fight to Aspinall. It doesnt mean Jones would accept.

Its such a coincidence that Jones was bulking for 3 years for a HW fight and asking 30 mil payday, then as soon as Big Frank left the ufc he was magically ready to fight another tailored made HW for peanuts...

No my friend. You are the fool who clearly doesn't know the facts of the situation and just spewing the same incoherent nonsense Jones haters have been for 2 years. Get to know the facts or just shut the f@#k up and don't run your mouth.

First things first, Jon was not bulking up for 3 years and avoiding Francis. Jon fought his last LHW fight in February of 2020 and gave up his LHW belt in Aug of 2020. At that point he decided to move to HW. Jon under no circumstances was fighting anyone at HW unless it was for the HW title which was very reasonable considering his legacy and his focus was on Stipe who was the champ. Francis won the HW belt in March of 2021 and that is when talks began for Jones vs Francis. And Jones demanding high pay is nothing out of the ordinary for a fight like this. Fighters aim high while the promotion goes low and they meet some where in the middle. Jon didnt come to terms so Francis fought Gane in Jan 22. And then after that, Francis was out the entire year of 2022 healing his injury and also negotiating his contract. You guys talk so much shit that Jon was holding it up with his contract disupate but don't acknowlege that Francis was doing the same thing for all of 2022. So all this 3 year nonsnse you keep spewing is bullshit considering in that 3 years, the only time the fight actually could have happened was from April 21 to Jan 22 which is a 7 month period.

To your other stupid point. Jon did accept. It was in the media 2 months prior to Francis leaving that Jon was already re-signed and going to fight March 5th at UFC 285 for the HW title. Article from Nov 2022, well before Francis left the UFC and was still under contract.

Jon Jones is reportedly "penciled" in to make his return to the Octagon at UFC 285 on March 5 in Las Vegas,though an opponent hasn't been finalized.
Nolan King of MMAJunkie reported Mondaythat Jones, who last fought in February 2020, is "ready to go" and potential counterparts include Francis Ngannou, who's recoveringfrom a knee injury"

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10056479-report-jon-jones-penciled-in-for-ufc-285-ngannou-blaydes-eyed-as-opponents

Furthermore.....this interview Francis did on Jan 17th 2023 with Ariel talks about the whole scenario from his side. The UFC had multiple meetings with Francis in December to get a deal done. The last was on Jan 10th 2023, where they made formal offer for a 3 fight deal and the Jon Jones fight for March 5th at UFC 285. Jon at this point was under contract and booked for UFC 285. Francis declined the fight and the deal and was stripped of his title. The UFC broke the news that Jon is fighting Gane on Jan 14th at UFC 285 and that Francis is being striped. So yes, Jon already accpted the fight and was ready to go and fought on that very event. Francis decined and that was it.

So don't give me this BS that Jon was ready the moment Francis left. Jon was signed 2 months prior and was already booked for the event. Jon fought and Francis declined.

 

[Motivated BJ Penn]

Jon Jones is reportedly "penciled" in to make his return to the Octagon at UFC 285 on March 5 in Las Vegas,though an opponent hasn't been finalized.
Nolan King of MMAJunkie reported Mondaythat Jones, who last fought in February 2020, is "ready to go" and potential counterparts include Francis Ngannou, who's recoveringfrom a knee injury"

Lmao Jon being "ready to go" means jack shit, at that point he did not sign anything yet and was still asking for $30 million for Francis. Funny how you'll do any sort of mental gymnastics before admitting that your daddy Jones is a duck and will always be a duck.

 

[andgonsil]

Jones has been ducking since JDS days

Before Cain (old testament)

 

[JKS]

Lmao Jon being "ready to go" means jack shit, at that point he did not sign anything yet and was still asking for $30 million for Francis. Funny how you'll do any sort of mental gymnastics before admitting that your daddy Jones is a duck and will always be a duck.

Mental gymnastics?? If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, as the saying goes. I think it's you playing around with all sorts of mental gymnastics. And from what I read, I am thinking you're not all there mentally, perhaps a bit slow.

I gave nothing but facts and all you're doing is bringing in bulls##t and lies you made up. It's pretty pathetic.

Let me walk you through this you dummy. And reports of Jon asking for 30 million dollars were from the spring of 2021 right after Francis won the title. And those rumors were shown to be false.

The article I posted was from late November 2022, a year n half later. And yes Jon did sign new terms of his contract as the article clearly says he did. And how do we know? Because he had a fight booked literally 6 weeks later and actually fought on UFC 285, the event that the article says he was booked for. Do you get that now, or are you too dense to understand this very simple concept.

Francis had the chance to fight and he split. So I would stop running your mouth.

 

[Motivated BJ Penn]

Mental gymnastics?? If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, as the saying goes. I think it's you playing around with all sorts of mental gymnastics. And from what I read, I am thinking you're not all there mentally, perhaps a bit slow.

I gave nothing but facts and all you're doing is bringing in bulls##t and lies you made up. It's pretty pathetic.

Let me walk you through this you dummy. And reports of Jon asking for 30 million dollars were from the spring of 2021 right after Francis won the title. And those rumors were shown to be false.

The article I posted was from late November 2022, a year n half later. And yes Jon did sign new terms of his contract as the article clearly says he did. And how do we know? Because he had a fight booked literally 6 weeks later and actually fought on UFC 285, the event that the article says he was booked for. Do you get that now, or are you too dense to understand this very simple concept.

Francis had the chance to fight and he split. So I would stop running your mouth.

Jones signing a new contract doesnt mean he signed to fight Francis, you braindead moron. Jones is under contract right now, does it mean hes fighting Aspinall? Nope

So try again with the mental gymnastics, I know its a hard pill to swallow that your hero Jonny Boy is and always will be remembered as a duck. Quack quack

 

[JKS]

Jones signing a new contract doesnt mean he signed to fight Francis, you braindead moron. Jones is under contract right now, does it mean hes fighting Aspinall? Nope

So try again with the mental gymnastics, I know its a hard pill to swallow that your hero Jonny Boy is and always will be remembered as a duck. Quack quack

Okay, I am going to try this one more time and be cordial and not rude and hopefully you will understand the scenario. Anyone who's level headed should be able to grasp this, and I am sure you are.

Jon agreed to new terms in Nov 22, with that said the UFC booked him for UFC 285 to fight for the HW title. A opponent wasn't named as they were still negotiating with Francis. So as the article says, they aimed at Francis but could have been Blaydes for the vacant belt if the UFC and Francis cant come to terms. So at that point obviously Jon wasn't fighting Francis and it wasn't my point that a new contract means he is.

The whole point of Jon agreeing to the Francis fight came in Jan 23. In Jan 23, the UFC made a formal fight offer to Francis to fight Jon Jones at UFC 285. Francis in the interview above made it very clear he had a contract offer to fight Jon Jones at UFC 285 with pay outlined.

That is the fight offer that Francis declined. Jon was booked for the event weeks prior, the UFC offered Francis the fight and he declined it. Jon still fought on the event vs a different opponent as Francis didn't come to terms with the UFC. So in the end, Jon agreed to the fight and still fought on the event. Francis is the one who declined the fight.

And to your point about Jon being under contract now and fighting Aspinal. If you want to make a comparison to the Francis scneario. That would be the equal of Jon be slated for UFC 317 on June 28th and agreed to fight on that event and the UFC offering Tom the fight and Tom declining.

 

[froggyluv]

~ SherDawgs: "J.Jones is and has always been totally irrelevant !!"

~ 20 Front page Threads on J. Jones

Never change SherDawg

 

[BowserJr]

Well he agreed to fight him, he was ready to go for UFC 285. Francis was the one who didnt accept the fight.

Both Jones and Francis got different offers at different times. That is negotiation.

Jones fighting at 285 does not mean he agreed to fight Francis. It means he agreed to fight Gane.

We don't know if he actually agreed to a fight with Francis. Ive never seen a contract or anything proving that Jones actually agreed to fight Francis

 

[Motivated BJ Penn]

Okay, I am going to try this one more time and be cordial and not rude and hopefully you will understand the scenario. Anyone who's level headed should be able to grasp this, and I am sure you are.

Jon agreed to new terms in Nov 22, with that said the UFC booked him for UFC 285 to fight for the HW title. A opponent wasn't named as they were still negotiating with Francis. So as the article says, they aimed at Francis but could have been Blaydes for the vacant belt if the UFC and Francis cant come to terms. So at that point obviously Jon wasn't fighting Francis and it wasn't my point that a new contract means he is.

The whole point of Jon agreeing to the Francis fight came in Jan 23. In Jan 23, the UFC made a formal fight offer to Francis to fight Jon Jones at UFC 285. Francis in the interview above made it very clear he had a contract offer to fight Jon Jones at UFC 285 with pay outlined.

That is the fight offer that Francis declined. Jon was booked for the event weeks prior, the UFC offered Francis the fight and he declined it. Jon still fought on the event vs a different opponent as Francis didn't come to terms with the UFC. So in the end, Jon agreed to the fight and still fought on the event. Francis is the one who declined the fight.

And to your point about Jon being under contract now and fighting Aspinal. If you want to make a comparison to the Francis scneario. That would be the equal of Jon be slated for UFC 317 on June 28th and agreed to fight on that event and the UFC offering Tom the fight and Tom declining.

So in your mind, Jones signed the same contract and was gonna get the same pay to fight either Francis, Gane or freaking Blaydes at UFC 285? Are you really that dumb?

Francis getting an offer to fight Jones doesnt have anything to do with Jones signing shit, the UFC was desperate to keep their HW champion and of course they would dangle a fight with Jones like a carrot on a stick. The facts are Jones never signed a deal to fight the specific person Francis Ngannou in all that time he was running his mouth, and the moment said person leaves the UFC he signs a fight with a whitebelt that cant grapple nor wrestle.

 

[WokeWarrior]

typical mma fans lying to push a narrative. i mean i guess its a culture thing where yall implement this mindset
in your day to day lives so doing the same
thing in the sport you like should come to no surprise..

so i guess Dana white had nothing to do with this and it was that criminal coke head jon jones and that arrogant francis the entire whole time... or maybe they should be good little boys and be thankful for the 500k/500k or 1 million dollar
opportunity.....

and yall wonder why theres no more stars and why no sane talented athlete would dare enter this sport.

 

[Tweak896]

You are a fool if you think Jones was ever willing to fight Ngannou. Yeah Im sure he was offered the fight multiple times, by the ufc, just like they offered the fight to Aspinall. It doesnt mean Jones would accept.

Its such a coincidence that Jones was bulking for 3 years for a HW fight and asking 30 mil payday, then as soon as Big Frank left the ufc he was magically ready to fight another tailored made HW for peanuts...

First, Ngannou had a bum knee, he had his hands full with Gane grappling him. Knees aren't known to just come back to normal, and if you've seen Ngannou since you'll know his movement hasn't been good. Even in Fury fight he sat waiting for counters. As powerful as Ngannou is, it's not the greatest look before a Jones fight enough to scare him.

UFC would be stupid as fuck to give Ngannou the chance to stay HW champ, potentially KO Jones who is their only GOAT candidate that still fights, then leave to boxing/pfl right away. I don't know a single champ that was given a 1 fight contract then released, they met Ngannou at 3 fight minimum, but Ngannou didn't want that.

It's one thing to have a HW champ who defended his belt once in a shitty fight walk away, but another to give him the best selling fight and potentially lose Jone's perfect record for a short term gain. Who knows how much Jones/Ngannou would've sold more than Jones/Gane, but not enough to be worth the risk of Ngannou winning and running to PFL/Boxing. Those 3 years Ngannou refused to sign a new contract to get paid more, so he could leave if he wanted, even though UFC wanted to pay him more and keep him.

 

[skylolow]

I dont know the economics of negotiation

Im guessing Jones gets a cut of the gate and maybe PPV

Stipe (a star) was at MSG and Alex is (was) a huge star. Those fights pay on the back end.

No one really knows who Tom is, so cash up front for a high risk, unknown-up-and comer?

That would be my guess anyway.

Jones has solid guarantee base line pay. He then has PPV points he gets. He gets no gate money, the UFC doesn't do that.

PPV numbers have been down quite a bit. Warranted in some cases, as the UFC has put on some questionable quality PPV events in the last year or so. But Jones has always been a solid a performer on that front, 500K to 750K in buys is pretty much a lock for Jones. Jones knows this is the biggest fight the UFC can do right now outside of a Conor fight. He just wants to leverage that against the UFC even though the UFC rarely lets that happen.

If we believe Dana, I guess Tom, and some rumblings going around it sounds like they are past that point and kind of have a date set but aren't really ready to announce it. I think it will be interesting to see what Tom has to say over the next 4 to 6 weeks if the UFC doesn't announce anything. Personal opinion, Jones and UFC would like MSG in Nov., but that is long ways off. I also think the UFC maybe is shopping that fight to the Saudis too see what they can get out of them.

 

[JKS]

Both Jones and Francis got different offers at different times. That is negotiation.

Jones fighting at 285 does not mean he agreed to fight Francis. It means he agreed to fight Gane.

We don't know if he actually agreed to a fight with Francis. Ive never seen a contract or anything proving that Jones actually agreed to fight Francis

Of course it means he agreed to fight Francis. The UFC wouldn't have offered the Jones fight to him for an actual event unless he already agreed to the fight. We've been over this many times. Jon was already singed 6 weeks prior in Nov 22 and was booked for UFC 285 to fight for the HW title and his opponent was intended to be Francis. The UFC kept negotiating for a new contract with Francis and offered him the in Jan 23.

What do you think would have happened?? Francis would have signed the Jones fight for UFC 285 and his new contract and then the UFC would turn around and make Gane vs Jones? LOL, that's a complete contract breach and would never happen. It doesn't work like that.

Jon said it himself weeks later that Francis had the opportunity to fight him and didn't

 

[JKS]

So in your mind, Jones signed the same contract and was gonna get the same pay to fight either Francis, Gane or freaking Blaydes at UFC 285? Are you really that dumb?

Francis getting an offer to fight Jones doesnt have anything to do with Jones signing shit, the UFC was desperate to keep their HW champion and of course they would dangle a fight with Jones like a carrot on a stick. The facts are Jones never signed a deal to fight the specific person Francis Ngannou in all that time he was running his mouth, and the moment said person leaves the UFC he signs a fight with a whitebelt that cant grapple nor wrestle.

No buddy, you're the one that is talking out of your ass. All you're doing is making assumptions and just making things up with no facts. The difference here is I go by actual facts that are released in the media from managers, journalists and more importnatly the fighters themseves. So perhaps you should jsut STFU and you may learn something sport.

Let me explain to you how Jones contract works, per his manager Richard Schafer who negotiated his contract. So unlike you you just makes shit up, my understanding comes from acutal sources in the situation. Jon Jones had an exisiting contract from LHW for 8 fights. When he decided to move to HW, he renogiating the terms and percetnages, it wasn't a new contract but preexisiting with new terms and pay. Jon has the same base pay + variable bonus + fight bonuses and then the PPV added. That is why his pay for Gane and Stipe was reported as roughly the same. He is the highest tier of PPV % next to Conor. So yes, the base pay and contract for Ngannou would be the same as Gane and Stipe, he would just earn more in varaible bonus and PPV. Again, this is coming from his manager, you don't like it, take it up with him.

And to keep proving you wrong again and again. Jones didn't sign the Gane fight when Franis left you dummy. He signed it when the UFC told him they couldn't come to terms for Francis so they went with the back up. If Francis signed the contract and decided to stay and the UFC went with Gane vs Jones, that's a breach of contract, it doesn't work like that. Jon agreed to the fight and Francis declined, facts are facts. The UFC needed to get Francis locked down before anything was finalized. Jon fought and Francis left. The fact you're stil arguing this shows you're either a biased hater or a complte moron, likely both.