Joe Rogan hopes Francis Ngannou finds his way back to the UFC.
Ngannou parted ways with the UFC last month after failing to come to terms on a new deal. With his departure, Ngannou relinquished his heavyweight title, leaving Jon Jones to fight Ciryl Gane for the vacant belt in the UFC 285 headliner on March 4.
Rogan, the longtime UFC color commentator, wants Ngannou to get his much-desired blockbuster boxing match, but then he’d like to see him return to the octagon and face the winner of Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) vs. Gane (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC).
“The perfect world is he goes over, has some big-money heavyweight boxing fight, Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane have a fight, Jon wins, Ciryl wins, whoever wins is the UFC champion, and then Francis comes back,” Rogan said in a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “He can totally come back. Francis, if you’re listening, sir, please don’t sign an exclusive contract.”
Rogan sees Ngannou boxing Tyson Fury as a possibility, but if he does, Rogan doesn’t like the former UFC heavyweight champ’s chances.
“Who knows if someone comes along and offers him a sh*t ton of money?” Rogan said. “Look, I mean, if someone says, ‘Hey, I’ll give you $100 million,’ you say, ‘OK, what do I got to do? Fight Jake Paul? What do I have to do?’ If they’re gonna offer him big money, but I think they’re trying to do a Tyson Fury fight.”
He continued, “Francis Ngannou could knock out any human being on earth if he can hit them clean on the chin,” Rogan said. “But good luck hitting Tyson Fury clean on the chin.”
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