Jon Jones Teases Retirement As Francis Ngannou Negotiations Stall

UFC fans were on the edge of their seats this week, watching Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou trading blows on social media.

The current UFC light heavyweight champion expressed his interest in the fight and stated that he was not scared of Ngannou’s power. In a back and forth exchange, ‘The Predator’ seemed equally motivated for the bout and didn’t back down in their verbal battle.

Jones took to social media in the last couple of hours to announce that he had entered negotiations with the UFC for the bout and in an unprecedented move, he updated his fans live as the events unfolded.

However, things didn’t go to plan and our hopes of a bout between the two MMA legends has been dashed. Jones revealed the details of what went wrong and listed a financial disagreement as the main issue.

In a shock statement, Jones then suggested that we may not see him in the Octagon for some time.

It’s clear that the UFC’s offer was a long way off from what Jon was expecting. The average confirmed pay for a champion in the promotion is $500,000 per bout. This is excluding pay-per-view figures, which are notoriously hard to acquire due to the company’s contracts, which are said to prevent their disclosure.

Jones then took aim at his division. The Albuquerque resident has sat at the top of the light heavyweight pile for most of his career but his retirement would give contenders such as Dominick Reyes another shot at the UFC championship.

Reyes challenged Jones at UFC 247 and was arguably his toughest opponent to date. A vacant light heavyweight championship belt could see Reyes fight top contenders such as Jan Blachowicz or Corey Anderson for the title.

With disappointment from the meeting still fresh, Jones could be using this announcement as a tactic to increase the UFC’s offer. It follows bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo, announcing his retirement as a result of not being paid enough.

Former UFC two division champion Conor McGregor, also famously sent out a similar tweet four years ago, during negotiations to fight Nate Diaz for a second time.

Do you think that Jon Jones will actually retire?


UPDATE:

In the last few minutes, Ngannou has taken to social media to comment on his negotiations.


NEW UPDATE:

In the last couple of minutes, Jones has taken to social media again, to state that while he’s disappointed, he will continue to fight. Adding that Jan Blachowicz will be next.

This probably won’t be the last update. We will continue to update this post as the events continue to unfold.


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