Francis Ngannou has insisted he will not entirely close the door on a potential UFC title fight with Jon Jones.
The Cameroon star elected to vacate his heavyweight title earlier this year after failing to agree a new contract with the UFC. Once vacated, the heavyweight title was put on the line in a clash between Jon Jones and Cyril Gane which 'Bones' gladly accepted and choked out his rival in the first round to become champion.
Prior to vacating the title, fans had built up excitement for a clash between the ex-champion and Jones, who was considered a direct threat to Ngannou while he was the king of the division. However it appeared off the table given Ngannou has moved on and is eyeing a series of fights in the boxing ring.
But despite both men appearing to have moved on, Ngannou has insisted he will never say never if a deal could be agreed to fight Jones either inside or outside of the UFC. "I will never shut the door to it [a fight with Jones]," he said during an interview with TMZ Sports when asked of the chances of him still meeting Jones inside the cage. " I have tried to manage this as gently as possible.
"I did everything in my position and in my power to try and make this fight move forward but it didn't work. As I said I never close the door, but now I'm not sure this is a discussion we can have because I feel it is taking a much different route as it is becoming very personal. They are upset and there is a lot of anger out there. I don't know, I'm good."
Jones was critical of Ngannou's decision to leave the UFC both before and after his recent title win, insisting that it was the Cameroon star to blame for a fight never materialising. UFC president Dana White was also critical of the former champion insisting he would have been brushed aside in a similar fashion by Jones if a fight had taken place.
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Much of the 36-year-old's anguish towards the fight negotiations was his dissatisfaction towards the financial reward he would receive for the heavyweight clash. And Ngannou suggested that his rival's hefty and long contract with the UFC has prevented them from touching gloves.
Ngannou said on his YouTube channel: "That was quite a great performance from Jon. Not very surprising because I knew that if I could out-wrestle Ciryl, Jon would be another story. He would have a hard night if Jon could lay hands on him. The fight that I would have liked to have, but unfortunately we are not there. That fight didn't happen and probably will never happen now that he's on a very long contract with the UFC so that's not happening anymore."
