UFC President Dana White said after a fight card Saturday that the show has released heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou from his contract, booking Jon Jones against Cyryl Gane on March 4 in the main event of UFC 285 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the vacancy. Heavyweight title.
White said after the UFC Vegas 67 card, the UFC offered Ngannou a contract that would make him the highest-paid heavyweight in UFC history, but Ngannou turned it down. He also said that Nganuu’s injured knee still had not healed and that he was not ready to fight in March.
White also said Jones signed a new eight fight deal.
News of the Jones-Gane fight first leaked as a result of the video boards outside the T-Mobile Arena, which were scrolling an advertisement showing the bout. White said this was a mistake by arena officials as well as UFC employees and should not have been released when he was.
The board was showing a UFC ad ahead of the Las Vegas Golden Knights NHL vs Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
Ngannou last fought when he scored a decision against Jin on January 22, 2022, in Anaheim, California, at the Honda Center for the undisputed heavyweight title. He said after the fight that he injured his knee, and had surgery shortly thereafter.
“We’ve been working on a new agreement with Francis for about two years,” White said. “…we offered Francis a deal that would have made him the highest paid heavyweight in the history of the company, more than [Brock] Lesnar, more than anyone else, turned down the deal.”
Jones has been training for the past few days at Fight Ready MMA in Scottsdale, Arizona, under former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo. In an interview with Michael Wonsover posted on Cejudo’s YouTube page, Jones let it slip that the fight was going on.
Jones, considered by many to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time, has not fought since defeating Dominic Reyes at UFC 247 on February 8, 2020, in Houston. Jones, who won the lightweight title for the first time in 2011, has spoken of wanting to win the heavyweight title for as long as 2013.
“Sure, I’d like to have Henry train me for this Cyril Jean fight,” Jones said. “Hopefully our schedules align and we can get on the same page.”
White said Ngannou is free and clear to sign with whatever promotion he chooses. He said there was no matching clause or 90-day window. It is a completely free proxy.
Neither Ngannou nor his agent, Marquel Martin, could be reached for comment, but White suggested that Ngannou was not interested in a high-level opposition.
“I think Francis is in a place right now where he doesn’t want to take too many risks,” White said. “He feels he’s in a good position where he can fight fewer opponents and make more money. So, we’re going to let him do that. We’re going to release him from his contract. We’re going to surrender the right to match and he can go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants.”
Ngannou has been one of the most exciting fighters in UFC history and his punching power was unparalleled. Ngannou is 17-3 overall in MMA with 12 knockdowns and four submissions. He won the heavyweight title for the first time in a rematch with Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in Las Vegas on March 27, 2021. Miocic successfully defended his belt when he faced Ngannou in Boston on January 20, 2018, in the main event of UFC 220.
Ngannou recovered it in a vicious knockout rematch and then defended it against Gane. If Gane is considered a champion, Ngannou has defeated five fighters who have at some point held the UFC heavyweight title: Gane, who was interim champion; Music. Junior dos Santos, Ken Velasquez and Andrei Arlovski.
Gane said he was happy, although he was disappointed that he didn’t have another fracture at Ngannou.
“Everyone knows the situation,” he said. “How long are we going to wait?”
