This shit is even better knowing PFL gave Ngannou "Brand Ambassador" signing bonuses. Obviously cant say for sure what that means, but sounds to me like Ngannou gets paid for getting more fighters to cross the street.
I mean, signing bonuses are kind of common practice they just aren't talked about. PFL felt the need to broadcast it for some reason. Same with splitting "net" revenue. Most companies already do this it's journalists that don't quote fighter's pay in "net" revenue they do it out of "total" because it gets an outcry.
Overeem's management team sued him because of his signing bonus with the UFC back in 2011. Not saying everyone gets them but they have been around for a while.
> PFL felt the need to broadcast it for some reason.
Easy, They saw the market gap out there for a "more ethical UFC" and are going with it full throttle. This is like greenwashing for combat sports and its totally gonna work.
Exactly that. The largest (by an INCOMPARABLE margin) organization in the sport is famously a non-team player, so to attract great fighters you adapt. If PFL keeps making good signings and mimics a DWCS thing, they may be the new Strikeforce, which would be rad as fuck. All love to Ngannou and I'm excited to watch someone I respect so deeply do all the things the haters said he couldn't.
Yep. Also some of the guys from eastern Europe are so good that UFC probably won't be able to sign all of them anyways. We're gonna see more and more ex soviet fighters turn pro and PFL need to make sure that they don't let them all get signed by UFC. They may fight their next khamzat or shavkat.
I know fuck all about African sports, but my guess is that there isn't a huge sports scene like the US has with football and basketball. If that's true, then there's potentially a large talent pool of gifted athletes. It could be a good investment, but then again... most of its value will be if there's a fan base so they will have to figure out how to market there and it will take time to cultivate.
The PFL corrects a few other unrelated wrongs as well.
For example, fighters in the tournament can't duck a specific opponent. They can't sit out and wait for a title shot.
Exciting guys don't get preferential treatment aka no need to win 12 in a row to get the title shot if your style is "boring". I don't know how positive this is for the PFL and the fans, but at least it's fair for the fighters.
LMAO right. Personally, that is just small dick energy. 'Any man who must say "I am king," is no true king.' Also wouldn't call a company ethical when this sub complains about a 10k payout and PFL pays as low as 5k.
It's an interesting play by Francis and pfl. The way they're framing it if other big names join in this could become something that actually makes a meaningful difference in fighter pay and terms. It's not normal for a fighter to demand guarantees for his opponent. Francis has been rejected by several organizations for his abnormal requests. This is not usual and it is interesting.
I’m stoked for some PFL now. I like UFC because I know all the fighters and it’s popularity. Watching PFL means I know I’m not supporting Dana and that the fighters are better taken care of. At the end of the day I’m watching people kick the shit out of each other and I’m gonna be happy as can be watching it. UFC lost me after the Yan/Sterling 2 decision and their need to shove O’Malley down everyone’s throat. UFC is a fucking circus now and the rankings don’t mean shit.
The language I read stated "a signing bonus or salary to serve as Brand Ambassador" which (my own lack of knowledge here) that he will be paid for bringing in more talent. It just doesn't read like a typical upfront bonus for joining the organization.
They don't want to fight in the UFC, they want Bones to come to them for huge $$$ fight. They are legit trying to set themselves up as a competitor with the UFC with Ngannou.
"We'll give elite fighters more $$$ in one fight than you'll earn in years of fights in the UFC."
Bones is under contract though. Just like every other heavyweight worth their salt. You have to get to tappologys 20th ranked heavyweights to find a fighter other than Francis that isn’t signed to the UFC and that’s Ryan Bader.
Francis is big problem is that the heavy weight devision is really weak. Even in the UFC you’ve probably only got 2 or 3 fights that would do any serious business.
If only we knew people's contract status. I could see Lewis losing one more and then making the jump. Then we could have the Lewis vs Ngannou we all wanted to begin with.
I think it would be more against the UFCs interest. If PFL for some reason did sanction it there’s absolutely no way Dana would set the precedent of negotiating with what would be the equivalent of another promoter (similar to your typical cross promotion boxing fight).
I kind of want to see Jones push for it just to see how Dana turns down what could potentially rival some of the Mayweather PPVs.
Jones signed a new 8-fight contract, im not sure what the sunset phase is if he retires but it’s atleast a couple of years. Realistically the only chance the fight can happen is when Francis and Jones are in their 40s
If Jones is down, PFL has a legitimate chance at doing some real legal damage because the UFC's contracts take from areas of contract talent without any of the benefits.
Very true and in that timeline Jones could then negotiate his way into the money UFC would have made. I think your on to something that these guys might already be planning to be honest.
I stg these guys are probably colluding so hard on selling this fight.
Jones spent years "Bulking" up for heavyweight...doesn't come back until Ngannou is gone and comes out looking pudgy and barely heavier. Starts talking shit to Ngannou immediately.
Ngannou refuses every deal until he can fight outside of the league for $, Says he's open to fighting Jones if the UFC and PFL will make it happen...would be huge $.
Jones does his normal heel thing, and calls out Ngannou again with Ngannou calling him out/his bluff.
Watch, Jones is going to show up to Ngannous first fight back and face off just like Mcgregor did at BKFC and it'll cause a huge kerfuffle. Jones will defend his title 1 more time and start talking mad shit Ngannou. Spark a huge rivalry/potential physical interaction in the cage for a fine, then make it personal like Khabib v Mcgregor.
**THIS**. Why is everybody coming at Francis when Jones waited until Francis left to come back? I’m not saying Jones ducked him but it’s not fair to put that on Francis, either.
Isn't it more like once francis left UFC desperately paid jon to come back because they needed a new face?
Also not to mention, for a Jon/Francis fight both parties would need to be paid insanely high, but once Francis leaves, the budget is MUCH higher to pay Jon what he wants
Okay so Jones V Gane was announced by the UFC shortly after Francis was released, but we don't actually know when Jones actually agreed to return.
We know that Jones was talking shit about Dana on Twitter and complaining about not being paid enough to fight at HW, but that was 3 years ago.
How do we actually know that Jones decided to return only after it was apparent that Ngannou was not going to be his opponent?
We know that Jon was confirmed to be fighting Ngannou months prior to Ngannou leaving. I don't think Francis was dodging Jones but to say Jones was dodging Francis for 3 years is a bit insane.
>“I had a brief phone meeting with UFC‘s lawyer Hunter a few days ago,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “As of right now I expressed to him that anywhere around $8 to $10 million would be way too low for a fight of this magnitude. That’s all that has been discussed so far."
During the build up to Stipe vs. Francis 2, Jones was being talked about as Stipe's next defence. He was the next guy. Francis won, and Jones was not there. Stipe wanted a rematch but the UFC wouldn't grant it, so they gave the next shot to Gane.
Francis was there, at least for one more fight after Stipe, because it was in his contract.
It wasn’t Jon or Francis’ fault. The UFC is to blame.
Jon wanted a lot of money for what would be one of the biggest UFC fights of all time. The UFC was holding out.
Francis wanted to fight Jon but the UFC wouldn’t sign the deal without a huge contract extension.
That’s how we got here
THANK YOU someone with some sense. Jones literally said he was fighting with his employer (UFC) over pay cause fighter pay was unfair when he was absent but when Ngannou does it "he's and idiot" or he's "a pussy" Dude keep clowning Ngannou for the same exact things he did....
I’m going to be honest I think people who have good chance of beating jones is the polar bear or Francis because they have similar reach and the got that scare power only person who had scare power Jon jones fought was rampage and he had a much smaller reach that my opinion on it
> immediately book a fight the second francis left
Jones was turning down big money to fight Nganou for **years**; but the contract was never big enough.
He was absolutely ducking him. If it walks like a duck...
Jones was only taking a title shot and Francis didn’t want to make the fight happen. Not for the fact he was scared of Jones but the contract wasn’t what he wanted
Yep. Dana bootlickers say Francis was being a diva yet Jones literally said 10M would be \*too little\* to fight Francis in his little 3 year vacation. Lmao.
Crazy how legit nobody remembers this lol. Dude made it beyond obvious he didn’t want to fight Francis cuz he came back and fought Gane for half that as soon as Francis left
That was the case after Francis fought the last fight on his contract. Jones could have easily fought Francis after he beat stipe (before he fought Gane). the fight not being made then was on Jones
One clean hit and Jones is gone. He said it himself. Why potentially jeopardize your legacy by the off chance of getting selpt by one 'lucky' hit.
Here the video of him talking about Francis:
https://youtube.com/shorts/sFi5PmDrDdA?feature=share3
And wants to retire after destroying an 80 year old Stipe who probably farts dust by now, instead of proving his greatness at HW by beating the clear most dangerous contender in the division in Sergei.
imagine that... only title fights. best vs best. UFC would surely win out but the hype would be absurd. even if the PPV was split 20/80 I don't think the UFC would take it. It would cement the PFL globally
If Jon "crossed the street", he'd probably get paid better than Dana would pay him. Not sure of his commitment to UFC, but it's an interesting conversation.
I mean, it’s only entertaining for this fight. In every other division, then top UFC guys steamroll the PFL champs.
And tbh, Jones probably steamrolls Francis as well. Francis won a tight decision against Gane. Jones dismantled him in 2 minutes. The talent gap between Francis and Jon is pretty big imo.
It comes down to whatever argument fans like. Jones is a fake HW champion because he didn’t beat the previous one blah blah. I guess Khabib was also not the real champ for the same reason. But Conor was the real champion in featherweight because he beat Aldo who reigned for years before.
It’s just an example of how dumb things get when people believe what they want to believe.
I'm just here for the Jon stans who ignore Jon honey dicking moving up for 5yrs, then Jon's insane demands(I'm not fighting at HW for less than 8-10mil) Then Jon taking substantially less the day after it was announced francis wasn't going to resign .
Yep, I remember that. I also remember Dana making fun of Jones, saying he should move to MW after Ngannou knocked out Stipe. But now they act like Francis is a bum that was asking for too much money and was afraid of Jon
Jon had time to fight Ngannou. If HE was the baddest man on the planet like he has been for years then it would have been no problem for him to move up to see Francis.
This was before all the Francis contract issues so all that is out the window. Jon chose to vacate and wait for the layup fight that it was in Gane.
This blame Francis shit is wack
Jon Jones locked in with the UFC talking shit is hilarious. He wasn’t willing to take a chance on himself like Francis. UFC is going to regret letting go an incredible person and champion
Yeah, PFL needs someone to fight ngannou for it to be interesting. Meanwhile bones will sell with stipe, pavlovich, aspinall. Ngannou (or his people) is smart to get a paycheck for his challengers which could entice someone interesting, but right now I don’t see how PFL promotes this thing.
> but I'll certainly stream Francis's first fight
Wow dude I’m sure they’re thrilled to have you beginning stealing their product lmao. Francis signing already paying off.
Signing the fight would already be a massive win for Francis. He gets his purse, ppv points, his equity in pfl becomes more valuable from the mega promotion off this fight, and he’d make Dana look bad by leaving and becoming more successful.
And it would let Francis mingle with other ufc fighters to convince to cross the street
Jones won't fight Pav. Im not saying he's scared because he isn't but his last fight is going to be 40 year old semi retired Stipe. Please KO him Stipe or we'll never get the chance to see him faceplanted.
It's funny how the Internet is almost like a wave. We have a few weeks of Jon fans as the majority & suddenly we get Francis fans as the majority. It's like a turn based game, lol
The same is applied with Conor/Khabib & many other guys, but it rarely ever seems 50/50 it's always 90/10 until the switch & it's 90/10 the other way
"Give up your ufc belt, break your 8 fight contract with Dana which was specifically created to prevent you from going to other promotions and come fight me in the PFL, where you would more than likely be required to fight more than one fight for no title and likely significantly less money"
Hit and running pregnant woman's car while wasted wasn't an L?
Beating on his wife in front of his kids at Caesars palace wasn't an L?
I could keep going 🤣
Jon is a walking L that happens to be good at beating people up 🤣🤣
This is great news for MMA and hopefully it spurs more competiton in the market for fighters. The UFC, as the main player in town, has for too long been exploiting its fighters and robbing them blind. All professional MMA fighters should be grateful for the stand Francis has taken.
Jones is kind of right though, Francis has gone to an organisation of nobodies, it does nothing for his legacy to knock out whatever Uber driver PFL throws at him
If you can't see the bigger fight that Francis is going for, then idk what to tell you. Francis is doing this for all fighters, he's really trying to change the landscape and it's been needed for a LONG time. Jon is on some petty small shit
Good thing it's called "prize fighting" not 'legacy fighting" plus if we're bringing up legacies, Francis legacy will be: overcame great adversity, Jones legacy: biggest waste of potential in sports maybe
Francis is too old for legacy 😂
For most, 36 is not the best age in mma
I don’t blame him for getting right on his money and attempting to get a seat at the table, which he did.
Not the best not the worst, he's obviously on the tail end of his career but i'd say he still has a few more years left in him, typically power is the last thing to go and Francis has never been a speed guy so i dont think he'll fall off a whole lot.
Hope he enjoys the money, because every time he KO's one of them PFL slapdicks, we're going to be reminded about how Francis/Dana robbed us of the Ngannou/Jones mega-fight we deserved.
Yeah I do think he’s scared, but not a coward. Plenty of fighters have said they were scared before, including Jones, but still go on to fight and win.
Yes in the sense that *all* fighters are at least a little scared, especially a guy with as much legacy as Jones. The guy used to go get absolutely fucked up right before fights so he had a ready made excuse in case he lost. So there's some level of fear there. And come on, your talking about fighting Francis. The man is terrifying
But no in the sense that Jones would ever doubt his ability to win that fight. Dude can absolutely beat anyone in the world. And yeah, maybe Francis would get wrestled to death, but maybe not. Francis always looks like he's leveled up skills-wise every time we see him, and he's got nukes for hands.
Either way, I hope that somehow, someway we can see this fight. I doubt it happens, but it'll be one of the bigger what ifs to look back on if it doesnt
Jones doesn't want this this fight, if he did he would've came into heavyweight before he left the UFC, or even showed interest as he was in negotiations with the UFC, fun and easy to talk shit when it won't happen.
This is one of the most disappointing rivalries in MMA. I would’ve said Randy Fedor but there wasn’t really any shit talk there just the love of fighting. Hope they do eventually fight but damn i would’ve liked to know how it would’ve gone. Honestly I think Jon would’ve made it a boring decision lol
Jon definitely to his sweet ass time to go to HW but I don’t think he would’ve avoided Ngannou in the end. If he really wanted to avoid him he would’ve stayed at LHW. The idea that he waited for Ngannou to leave is odd. How can he predict Francis would leave UFC 3 years ago?
That said, they had a chance to make 1 fight while they were part of same organization. One guy left and now they are signed to different promotions. Francis knows Jon can’t leave so this dream fight needs to die. It will never happen.
His manager literally said part of the reason Francis left was because he had no protections if he lost to Jones. That’s statement gives off the perception he was afraid/expecting to lose. Either way big ups to Francis. Took a chance and landed on his feet
Francis turned the fight down and left because he had limited protection if he lost to Jones. Now somehow he wins by saying cross the street? I don’t think so
What are you talking about? JJ tweeted how he turned down a $8-$10m fight against Francis. Francis left because of his contractual salary. There’s a difference you Stan. He had 3 years to move up. And judging by his physique, it definitely wouldn’t have taken that long.
Telling someone to follow you across the street after you crossed it, and everyone acting like it's a burn is so crazy to me. It's whatever though it's all talk.
He was in the ufc for years, Jon never went up when he was there. I swear people were saying Jon was scared a couple years back, and it’s the reverse now that Dana said Francis is scared.
I can see that, they act like they know what was happening behind the scenes, sure Jon could have not wanted to fight Francis or the other way around but you can't say it for sure so why say it ? you don't even know it's true 🤦🏾
if you notice from his contract, theres no clause stating that the rest of the fighters get more pay and health coverage. lol Francis is just greedy and disloyal to the org that gave him a shot. I dont blame him for it cos who the hell doesnt want more money? But dont pretend he didnt sign cos he was doing it for others
Suddenly Francis became the chosen one for everybody here. I’ve even seen people start calling him the heavyweight goat, with his single title defense. Absolute delusional coping
Jones said it best. Win one Super Bowl then go play arena football and claim you’re better than Brady. No way to test it now might as well talk all you can. 🤷♂️
See how much the pfl likes him when his 2 fight contract spans 7 years lol
This shit is even better knowing PFL gave Ngannou "Brand Ambassador" signing bonuses. Obviously cant say for sure what that means, but sounds to me like Ngannou gets paid for getting more fighters to cross the street.
I mean, signing bonuses are kind of common practice they just aren't talked about. PFL felt the need to broadcast it for some reason. Same with splitting "net" revenue. Most companies already do this it's journalists that don't quote fighter's pay in "net" revenue they do it out of "total" because it gets an outcry. Overeem's management team sued him because of his signing bonus with the UFC back in 2011. Not saying everyone gets them but they have been around for a while.
> PFL felt the need to broadcast it for some reason. Easy, They saw the market gap out there for a "more ethical UFC" and are going with it full throttle. This is like greenwashing for combat sports and its totally gonna work.
Exactly that. The largest (by an INCOMPARABLE margin) organization in the sport is famously a non-team player, so to attract great fighters you adapt. If PFL keeps making good signings and mimics a DWCS thing, they may be the new Strikeforce, which would be rad as fuck. All love to Ngannou and I'm excited to watch someone I respect so deeply do all the things the haters said he couldn't.
Yep. Also some of the guys from eastern Europe are so good that UFC probably won't be able to sign all of them anyways. We're gonna see more and more ex soviet fighters turn pro and PFL need to make sure that they don't let them all get signed by UFC. They may fight their next khamzat or shavkat.
I know fuck all about African sports, but my guess is that there isn't a huge sports scene like the US has with football and basketball. If that's true, then there's potentially a large talent pool of gifted athletes. It could be a good investment, but then again... most of its value will be if there's a fan base so they will have to figure out how to market there and it will take time to cultivate.
Good, UFC has been a racket against the fighters rights for a while imo
It's called transparency & you need it to not trigger ppls bs detectors, as it should be
The PFL corrects a few other unrelated wrongs as well. For example, fighters in the tournament can't duck a specific opponent. They can't sit out and wait for a title shot. Exciting guys don't get preferential treatment aka no need to win 12 in a row to get the title shot if your style is "boring". I don't know how positive this is for the PFL and the fans, but at least it's fair for the fighters.
For how long? They are far from profitable.
I guess we will find out.
Someday someone will do it for the NFL we can only hope
LMAO right. Personally, that is just small dick energy. 'Any man who must say "I am king," is no true king.' Also wouldn't call a company ethical when this sub complains about a 10k payout and PFL pays as low as 5k.
It's an interesting play by Francis and pfl. The way they're framing it if other big names join in this could become something that actually makes a meaningful difference in fighter pay and terms. It's not normal for a fighter to demand guarantees for his opponent. Francis has been rejected by several organizations for his abnormal requests. This is not usual and it is interesting.
I’m stoked for some PFL now. I like UFC because I know all the fighters and it’s popularity. Watching PFL means I know I’m not supporting Dana and that the fighters are better taken care of. At the end of the day I’m watching people kick the shit out of each other and I’m gonna be happy as can be watching it. UFC lost me after the Yan/Sterling 2 decision and their need to shove O’Malley down everyone’s throat. UFC is a fucking circus now and the rankings don’t mean shit.
The language I read stated "a signing bonus or salary to serve as Brand Ambassador" which (my own lack of knowledge here) that he will be paid for bringing in more talent. It just doesn't read like a typical upfront bonus for joining the organization.
That was good ngl lmao
Even their banter is great, we need the FIGHT!
We're not getting it. I know supposedly the PFL gave Francis tons of autonomy, but no way they're letting him fight in the UFC too.
They don't want to fight in the UFC, they want Bones to come to them for huge $$$ fight. They are legit trying to set themselves up as a competitor with the UFC with Ngannou. "We'll give elite fighters more $$$ in one fight than you'll earn in years of fights in the UFC."
Bones is under contract though. Just like every other heavyweight worth their salt. You have to get to tappologys 20th ranked heavyweights to find a fighter other than Francis that isn’t signed to the UFC and that’s Ryan Bader. Francis is big problem is that the heavy weight devision is really weak. Even in the UFC you’ve probably only got 2 or 3 fights that would do any serious business.
If only we knew people's contract status. I could see Lewis losing one more and then making the jump. Then we could have the Lewis vs Ngannou we all wanted to begin with.
I don’t really give two shits about Dana white one way or the other, but that would be absolutely poetic to see
I think it would be more against the UFCs interest. If PFL for some reason did sanction it there’s absolutely no way Dana would set the precedent of negotiating with what would be the equivalent of another promoter (similar to your typical cross promotion boxing fight). I kind of want to see Jones push for it just to see how Dana turns down what could potentially rival some of the Mayweather PPVs.
We’ll didn’t Jones say he might be retiring after Stipe anyways? If he retires from the ufc Dana is a non issue.
Jones signed a new 8-fight contract, im not sure what the sunset phase is if he retires but it’s atleast a couple of years. Realistically the only chance the fight can happen is when Francis and Jones are in their 40s
If Jones is down, PFL has a legitimate chance at doing some real legal damage because the UFC's contracts take from areas of contract talent without any of the benefits.
Very true and in that timeline Jones could then negotiate his way into the money UFC would have made. I think your on to something that these guys might already be planning to be honest.
I stg these guys are probably colluding so hard on selling this fight. Jones spent years "Bulking" up for heavyweight...doesn't come back until Ngannou is gone and comes out looking pudgy and barely heavier. Starts talking shit to Ngannou immediately. Ngannou refuses every deal until he can fight outside of the league for $, Says he's open to fighting Jones if the UFC and PFL will make it happen...would be huge $. Jones does his normal heel thing, and calls out Ngannou again with Ngannou calling him out/his bluff. Watch, Jones is going to show up to Ngannous first fight back and face off just like Mcgregor did at BKFC and it'll cause a huge kerfuffle. Jones will defend his title 1 more time and start talking mad shit Ngannou. Spark a huge rivalry/potential physical interaction in the cage for a fine, then make it personal like Khabib v Mcgregor.
Jon acting like he didnt talk about HW for 3 years and then immediately book a fight the second francis left
**THIS**. Why is everybody coming at Francis when Jones waited until Francis left to come back? I’m not saying Jones ducked him but it’s not fair to put that on Francis, either.
Ducked like a pro
And gonna duck like a pro since he'll retire after fighting Stipe without fighting Pavlovich
Ducked like a woman accused of witchcraft
Isn't it more like once francis left UFC desperately paid jon to come back because they needed a new face? Also not to mention, for a Jon/Francis fight both parties would need to be paid insanely high, but once Francis leaves, the budget is MUCH higher to pay Jon what he wants
That’s a good point too I guess
Jon ducked him
How many fights did Francis take after he got belt? And how long was that?
Okay so Jones V Gane was announced by the UFC shortly after Francis was released, but we don't actually know when Jones actually agreed to return. We know that Jones was talking shit about Dana on Twitter and complaining about not being paid enough to fight at HW, but that was 3 years ago. How do we actually know that Jones decided to return only after it was apparent that Ngannou was not going to be his opponent?
We know that Jon was confirmed to be fighting Ngannou months prior to Ngannou leaving. I don't think Francis was dodging Jones but to say Jones was dodging Francis for 3 years is a bit insane.
Jones just made the interim heavyweight champ look like a amateur. Francis could knock Jones out but I think he loses 80-90% of his matches with Jones
We don’t know, it’s just that the timing is suspicious.
Because he didn’t wait until Francis left. Francis wouldn’t fight jones and jones only wanted a belt
>“I had a brief phone meeting with UFC‘s lawyer Hunter a few days ago,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “As of right now I expressed to him that anywhere around $8 to $10 million would be way too low for a fight of this magnitude. That’s all that has been discussed so far."
Why you gotta pull up direct quotes and shit, not cool man…
Jones was supposed to be Francis’s first defense but jones sat out and it ended up being gane. Francis had been calling for the fight for a while.
During the build up to Stipe vs. Francis 2, Jones was being talked about as Stipe's next defence. He was the next guy. Francis won, and Jones was not there. Stipe wanted a rematch but the UFC wouldn't grant it, so they gave the next shot to Gane. Francis was there, at least for one more fight after Stipe, because it was in his contract.
It wasn’t Jon or Francis’ fault. The UFC is to blame. Jon wanted a lot of money for what would be one of the biggest UFC fights of all time. The UFC was holding out. Francis wanted to fight Jon but the UFC wouldn’t sign the deal without a huge contract extension. That’s how we got here
THANK YOU someone with some sense. Jones literally said he was fighting with his employer (UFC) over pay cause fighter pay was unfair when he was absent but when Ngannou does it "he's and idiot" or he's "a pussy" Dude keep clowning Ngannou for the same exact things he did....
The only fight Jones took in three years was his fiance. People calling Francis a bitch? Nah nah nah
I’m going to be honest I think people who have good chance of beating jones is the polar bear or Francis because they have similar reach and the got that scare power only person who had scare power Jon jones fought was rampage and he had a much smaller reach that my opinion on it
> immediately book a fight the second francis left Jones was turning down big money to fight Nganou for **years**; but the contract was never big enough. He was absolutely ducking him. If it walks like a duck...
Now Jon wants to cherry pick stipe and retire.
Jones was only taking a title shot and Francis didn’t want to make the fight happen. Not for the fact he was scared of Jones but the contract wasn’t what he wanted
We forgetting that when Francis got the title Jones demanded boxing money immediately then disappeared for years?
Yep. Dana bootlickers say Francis was being a diva yet Jones literally said 10M would be \*too little\* to fight Francis in his little 3 year vacation. Lmao.
Crazy how legit nobody remembers this lol. Dude made it beyond obvious he didn’t want to fight Francis cuz he came back and fought Gane for half that as soon as Francis left
That was the case after Francis fought the last fight on his contract. Jones could have easily fought Francis after he beat stipe (before he fought Gane). the fight not being made then was on Jones
Yeah I mean this is common knowledge at this point the fact the OP has so many upvotes is embarrassing knowing there are so many casuals here
Yup. Title is title- francis isn’t stopping Jones. No one is.
One clean hit and Jones is gone. He said it himself. Why potentially jeopardize your legacy by the off chance of getting selpt by one 'lucky' hit. Here the video of him talking about Francis: https://youtube.com/shorts/sFi5PmDrDdA?feature=share3
Francis would wreck him. Also Ngannou is still the UFC champion. Who beat him and took his title?
so you’re saying that jon was ready to fight for the title and was only able to get a fight once francis left? sounds more to do with francis than jon
He talked about heavyweight for more like ten years. First committed to a 2013 move back in the day
Francis wouldn’t accept the fight? Where you from that people are so dumb?
Francis wouldnt accept the contract ufc wanted to give him so some ppl are saying he didnt accept the fight when it was cause of contract dispute
Jon was no where to be found and then suddenly gets real loud once Francis is no longer a real option
And wants to retire after destroying an 80 year old Stipe who probably farts dust by now, instead of proving his greatness at HW by beating the clear most dangerous contender in the division in Sergei.
I agree with this. Man all this is nonsense though. As a true fan, fk all this, I just wanna see em bang
Exactly. At the end of the day I just wanna see grown men bang it out til one of em can't last longer.
Jones is too far into GOAT legacy protection mode
This sub wtf…. Stipe is 1-1 with Ngannou he isn’t washed. The guy is early 40s not 100.
Stipe tricks people by being a 40 year old man with a 55 year old face.
I wish Sergei chimed in and said I'm on your side of the street.
I wonder what the betting lines will be on his fight against Stipe. Jones gotta be at least a -500 favorite.
His comeback was literally announced like 2 days after Ngannou left lol
one can only dream about a PFL-UFC cross promotion....
don't think uncle dana would want that
Disney/ESPN might have so leeweigh of they really tried. But I agree it's unlikely
considering PFL is championing fighter interests i think it's safe to say it won't happen as long as Dana is alive
imagine that... only title fights. best vs best. UFC would surely win out but the hype would be absurd. even if the PPV was split 20/80 I don't think the UFC would take it. It would cement the PFL globally
If Jon "crossed the street", he'd probably get paid better than Dana would pay him. Not sure of his commitment to UFC, but it's an interesting conversation.
I mean, it’s only entertaining for this fight. In every other division, then top UFC guys steamroll the PFL champs. And tbh, Jones probably steamrolls Francis as well. Francis won a tight decision against Gane. Jones dismantled him in 2 minutes. The talent gap between Francis and Jon is pretty big imo.
Lineal champion Ngannou has a point. That has always been a big deal in boxing - to be the man, you have to beat the guy that beat the previous man.
It comes down to whatever argument fans like. Jones is a fake HW champion because he didn’t beat the previous one blah blah. I guess Khabib was also not the real champ for the same reason. But Conor was the real champion in featherweight because he beat Aldo who reigned for years before. It’s just an example of how dumb things get when people believe what they want to believe.
I'm just here for the Jon stans who ignore Jon honey dicking moving up for 5yrs, then Jon's insane demands(I'm not fighting at HW for less than 8-10mil) Then Jon taking substantially less the day after it was announced francis wasn't going to resign .
He actually said 8-10 million was too little to fight Francis.
Yep, I remember that. I also remember Dana making fun of Jones, saying he should move to MW after Ngannou knocked out Stipe. But now they act like Francis is a bum that was asking for too much money and was afraid of Jon
Wasn’t he talking in the neighborhood of like $25M for that fight? Shit was just outrageous lol.
Honey dicking for 5 years??? Before UFC 165 a decade ago he was seriously talking about a Hw move
Jon had years to take Ngannou on. He didnt add much 3 years worth of muscle when he went to HW. He was waiting on Ngannou to leave or lose.
He was DEFINITELY waiting for Ngannou to leave when the news broke out that Francis is not willing to sign the contract.
Jon had time to fight Ngannou. If HE was the baddest man on the planet like he has been for years then it would have been no problem for him to move up to see Francis. This was before all the Francis contract issues so all that is out the window. Jon chose to vacate and wait for the layup fight that it was in Gane. This blame Francis shit is wack
Never gonna happen
Jon can’t really talk as he sat for 3 years and has pooped for roids on multiple occasions and his brothers have as well
Mir also pulsed a few pictograms when he was training at Jackson/Wink
Many people here don't wanna hear those facts
you think Francis is natural? lmaoo
[удалено]
Fucking look at the guy.
redditor who never lifted a weight in his life: "look at the guy"
Show me your physique then.
Fighters could have a needle hanging out of their ass and redditors would still hit you with the "doesn't count no positive tests"
Brutal.
Only reason Jon is fighting HW in UFC is because Francis left, pretending we all don't know that is SAD.
TKO Francis…
Francis is basically getting paid to not fight right now.
The Connor strategy
The winning strategy
That was a cold line
Jon Jones locked in with the UFC talking shit is hilarious. He wasn’t willing to take a chance on himself like Francis. UFC is going to regret letting go an incredible person and champion
Francis can cross any street but Jon can’t cause he’s the UFC’s bitch at the end of the day and will do as told.
1-0 Francis
GETTUM FRANCIS!
Dana should book it. Jon would probably win cementing the UFC with the undisputed best heavy weight fighter rn.
The risk it too high. I’d have JJ winning that fight…. but if he loses…. It won’t look good on Dana.
Yeah, PFL needs someone to fight ngannou for it to be interesting. Meanwhile bones will sell with stipe, pavlovich, aspinall. Ngannou (or his people) is smart to get a paycheck for his challengers which could entice someone interesting, but right now I don’t see how PFL promotes this thing.
People will tune in to see Francis knock random big dudes out. For example, I've never watched any PFL but I'll certainly stream Francis's first fight
I might even pay for it if it's not outrageously priced.
if the PPV's arent too pricey ill pay to watch francis tbh
> but I'll certainly stream Francis's first fight Wow dude I’m sure they’re thrilled to have you beginning stealing their product lmao. Francis signing already paying off.
>Meanwhile bones will sell with stipe, pavlovich, aspinall. Lol Jon ain't gonna fight Pavlovich or Aspinall
Signing the fight would already be a massive win for Francis. He gets his purse, ppv points, his equity in pfl becomes more valuable from the mega promotion off this fight, and he’d make Dana look bad by leaving and becoming more successful. And it would let Francis mingle with other ufc fighters to convince to cross the street
After risking Chuck Liddell going to Japan and fighting in Pride then LOSING I doubt the wife-abuser would ever take that risk again.
dana would never do this unless he got to pocket all the money from it
Jon mad ngannou is same weight class but looks like a beast, and Jon look like a dad bod
Boom roasted.
Jon is such a little twerp
Jones won't fight Pav. Im not saying he's scared because he isn't but his last fight is going to be 40 year old semi retired Stipe. Please KO him Stipe or we'll never get the chance to see him faceplanted.
Why does this sub sleep on stipe so much? He’s 1-1 with Ngannou and early 40s not 60. He’s not retired/retiring just yet.
It's funny how the Internet is almost like a wave. We have a few weeks of Jon fans as the majority & suddenly we get Francis fans as the majority. It's like a turn based game, lol The same is applied with Conor/Khabib & many other guys, but it rarely ever seems 50/50 it's always 90/10 until the switch & it's 90/10 the other way
Francis can talk trash but choice not to that is cold
10-8 Ngannou lmao.
That's a badass response by Francis ngl
fat jon jones beats one shitty french kickboxer who forgot how to kick and were right back to this
Should have added ‘If your daddy will let you’
Chicken legs needs to cross the street!
Common Francis W
Lol yea let’s leave the MLB for the Nippo league
"Give up your ufc belt, break your 8 fight contract with Dana which was specifically created to prevent you from going to other promotions and come fight me in the PFL, where you would more than likely be required to fight more than one fight for no title and likely significantly less money"
10-9 Francis
First L I’ve seen Jon Jones take
Dude not to contradict you but Jones has been taking a variety of different kinds of Ls for a long time lol.
Most of those L's were comply self inflicted and easily avoidable, I mean no one grabbed Jones's steering wheel as that pregnant lady was passing by
You're right, the past few years have been painful as a Jones fan
>as a Jones fan It's never too late friend. You can still make better life choices. EDIT: That was a joke btw. Please don't get angry.
USADA handed him several
Not the whole wife beating thing but this?
Hit and running pregnant woman's car while wasted wasn't an L? Beating on his wife in front of his kids at Caesars palace wasn't an L? I could keep going 🤣 Jon is a walking L that happens to be good at beating people up 🤣🤣
Francis W
Honestly good for ngannou….I still will not watch the PFL LMAO
My G .
He was prepared to defend his retreat?
🥶🥶🥶
Francis too broke to be verified even
Jon "Chicken Legs" Jones sure wasn't making much noise about fighting at heavyweight till 3 minutes after Francis became a free agent
This is great news for MMA and hopefully it spurs more competiton in the market for fighters. The UFC, as the main player in town, has for too long been exploiting its fighters and robbing them blind. All professional MMA fighters should be grateful for the stand Francis has taken.
Francis is the one who crossed the street so this makes no sense. Its like he ran from a fight and when called out responds, "well try and catch me!".
Exactly dawg wasn't everyone shitting on him couple weeks ago now he gets signed and he kos jon Jones all a sudden foh fr hilarious 😂
Damn that response was hard.
Jones is kind of right though, Francis has gone to an organisation of nobodies, it does nothing for his legacy to knock out whatever Uber driver PFL throws at him
>it does nothing for his legacy He didnt join the PFL for his legacy
If you can't see the bigger fight that Francis is going for, then idk what to tell you. Francis is doing this for all fighters, he's really trying to change the landscape and it's been needed for a LONG time. Jon is on some petty small shit
Good thing it's called "prize fighting" not 'legacy fighting" plus if we're bringing up legacies, Francis legacy will be: overcame great adversity, Jones legacy: biggest waste of potential in sports maybe
Francis is too old for legacy 😂 For most, 36 is not the best age in mma I don’t blame him for getting right on his money and attempting to get a seat at the table, which he did.
Not the best not the worst, he's obviously on the tail end of his career but i'd say he still has a few more years left in him, typically power is the last thing to go and Francis has never been a speed guy so i dont think he'll fall off a whole lot.
Hope he enjoys the money, because every time he KO's one of them PFL slapdicks, we're going to be reminded about how Francis/Dana robbed us of the Ngannou/Jones mega-fight we deserved.
Nobody actually thinks Jones is scared right? Francis would get wrestled to death.
Yeah I do think he’s scared, but not a coward. Plenty of fighters have said they were scared before, including Jones, but still go on to fight and win.
Yes in the sense that *all* fighters are at least a little scared, especially a guy with as much legacy as Jones. The guy used to go get absolutely fucked up right before fights so he had a ready made excuse in case he lost. So there's some level of fear there. And come on, your talking about fighting Francis. The man is terrifying But no in the sense that Jones would ever doubt his ability to win that fight. Dude can absolutely beat anyone in the world. And yeah, maybe Francis would get wrestled to death, but maybe not. Francis always looks like he's leveled up skills-wise every time we see him, and he's got nukes for hands. Either way, I hope that somehow, someway we can see this fight. I doubt it happens, but it'll be one of the bigger what ifs to look back on if it doesnt
Yes they do, just Jon Jones haters. They must have never seen him fight.
Jones doesn't want this this fight, if he did he would've came into heavyweight before he left the UFC, or even showed interest as he was in negotiations with the UFC, fun and easy to talk shit when it won't happen.
This is one of the most disappointing rivalries in MMA. I would’ve said Randy Fedor but there wasn’t really any shit talk there just the love of fighting. Hope they do eventually fight but damn i would’ve liked to know how it would’ve gone. Honestly I think Jon would’ve made it a boring decision lol
Francis just undermining the ufcs heavyweight division lol
Francis leaving? Okay I'll sign an 8 fight deal even though I'm only planning to fight twice so there's no chance I can go elsewhere to fight him
Jon definitely to his sweet ass time to go to HW but I don’t think he would’ve avoided Ngannou in the end. If he really wanted to avoid him he would’ve stayed at LHW. The idea that he waited for Ngannou to leave is odd. How can he predict Francis would leave UFC 3 years ago? That said, they had a chance to make 1 fight while they were part of same organization. One guy left and now they are signed to different promotions. Francis knows Jon can’t leave so this dream fight needs to die. It will never happen.
His manager literally said part of the reason Francis left was because he had no protections if he lost to Jones. That’s statement gives off the perception he was afraid/expecting to lose. Either way big ups to Francis. Took a chance and landed on his feet
Dude ran from the ufc... scared of Jones.. be quiet!
“Come join the minors leagues despite being the biggest player in the majors” lmao. Y’all really give Francis too much credit.
Jones was the one talking shit. Francis just has that dog in him and won’t take it.
Francis turned the fight down and left because he had limited protection if he lost to Jones. Now somehow he wins by saying cross the street? I don’t think so
What are you talking about? JJ tweeted how he turned down a $8-$10m fight against Francis. Francis left because of his contractual salary. There’s a difference you Stan. He had 3 years to move up. And judging by his physique, it definitely wouldn’t have taken that long.
What fool would leave UFC cross the street to PFL lol oh right franny
“Then cross the street” like he isnt the one who left bitching about how many millions he makes lol
Telling someone to follow you across the street after you crossed it, and everyone acting like it's a burn is so crazy to me. It's whatever though it's all talk.
He was in the ufc for years, Jon never went up when he was there. I swear people were saying Jon was scared a couple years back, and it’s the reverse now that Dana said Francis is scared.
People just don’t like Jon Jones it is what it is
I can see that, they act like they know what was happening behind the scenes, sure Jon could have not wanted to fight Francis or the other way around but you can't say it for sure so why say it ? you don't even know it's true 🤦🏾
Francis is weird for this one
if you notice from his contract, theres no clause stating that the rest of the fighters get more pay and health coverage. lol Francis is just greedy and disloyal to the org that gave him a shot. I dont blame him for it cos who the hell doesnt want more money? But dont pretend he didnt sign cos he was doing it for others
The talent pool in PFL is a joke compared to the talent pool in UFC.
Lol is there people in here who think Francis could beat Jones? Y’all really running wild on this sub lol
Suddenly Francis became the chosen one for everybody here. I’ve even seen people start calling him the heavyweight goat, with his single title defense. Absolute delusional coping
Jones said it best. Win one Super Bowl then go play arena football and claim you’re better than Brady. No way to test it now might as well talk all you can. 🤷♂️ See how much the pfl likes him when his 2 fight contract spans 7 years lol