Jon Jones returned at UFC 285 to claim the vacant heavyweight title, but Francis Ngannou’s name loomed over the event, despite his absence.
Failed negotiations with the UFC led to Ngannou vacating the heavyweight title soon after defeating Ciryl Gane at UFC 270, which also meant a highly anticipated superfight between the former champion and newly-crowned champ Jones was off the table.
During fight week in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White said Ngannou would “never” return to the promotion, and Jones dismissed the former champ by hurling insults and turning his focus to another former champion in Stipe Miocic.
Ngannou is currently focused on landing a big boxing match, but still has an interest in what’s going on in the UFC, as he watched the UFC 285 main event live and offered his thoughts. However, he also seems to agree with White that a fight against Jones may never happen now.
Has the UFC really completely moved on from Ngannou? What are the chances that “The Predator” returns to the promotion in the future? Will we never get to see Jones vs. Ngannou?
That’s what we asked this week’s “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Farah Hannoun and Dan Tom, who weighed in on the topic with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.
Check out their discussion in the video above and don’t miss this week’s full episode below.
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch this week’s episode in the video above.
