Francis Who? Jon Jones’ Latest Win Erases Francis Ngannou From the Memory of Fans
UFC 285 was a complete success on all fronts — especially if you’re UFC president, Dana White. Not only did you have amazing performances from Bo Nickel and Shavkat Rakhmonov — you also had a historic upset to crown a new flyweight champion in the women’s division by having Alexa Grasso defeat Valentina Shevchenko.
But the ultimate cherry on top was Jon Jones returning to the UFC after a 3-year layoff. He moved up a division and won the heavyweight title on his first night back. Not only that, he did it in incredible fashion — taking no damage and submitting Ciryl Gane 2 minutes into the fight.
It was so spectacular, that it left many forgetting that there was a reason why Jones and Gane were fighting for a vacant championship. Francis Ngannou, the former heavyweight champion, couldn’t come to a contract agreement with the UFC and was released, thus freeing up the heavyweight title.
Ngannou was a nice story and had impressive performances, but he never truly connected with the fans. The reason Dana White and the UFC didn’t mind him leaving the company was that he was never a draw. None of…
