Francis Ngannou after knocking out Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 (Twitter UFC)
Booker T gives his verdict on the Francis Ngannou vs Jon Jones fight
Jon Jones vs Francis Ngannou looks set to be the next title fight in the heavyweight division. Jones took the step up from 205 a few months back and he says he raring to go in the heavyweight division.
And his debut fight at 265 was always going to be one for the title. After all, his impressive record at light heavyweight and his 14 title wins is too good to deny him anything he asks for.
So the UFC 260 title fight between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou was significant for this reason.
Not only would it decide who holds the belt, but it would also reveal Jones’ opponent for his much-awaited debut.
Ngannou won via KO in round 2 in the main event to send shockwaves in the MMA world. And it seemed that ‘Bones’ was himself a little surprised and intimidated by it.
And giving his views on this possible title fight on his own podcast was former WWE tag team champion, Booker T, who underlined why this was a win-win situation for the former light heavyweight king.
“Jon Jones deserved no less than to come back with a shot, just like Conor McGregor. When Conor McGregor came back from his hiatus, he was put right at the top of the food chain. Khabib Nurmagomedov, didn’t work out for him. Even if it [stepping up to 265] didn’t work out for you on the victory, the money is going to be right. Even if you wanna retire, the money is gonna be good. I think you gotta be thinking about that instead of fighting.”
And adding to that, Booker T mentioned that this was not a good fight for the Cameroonian or the UFC as there wouldn’t be a whole lot of Africans who would be pumping their money into the promotion.
“I don’t but I don’t think there’s a lot of Africans buying the fight. I don’t think in Kenya, you know the buy rate is going to be way over the top for Ngannou. UFC is looking for champions that countries are gonna make money from. I don’t think we’d be going to Africa for any pay-per-views.”
On the money front, Booker T’s comment makes sense because it is obvious that UFC would financially benefit from Jones being the champion.
But if we talk about pure fighting skills and their credentials, this would be a fight for the ages; but that can only happen if Jones reaches an agreement on the fight money with UFC.
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