In what many people predicted to be a tough outing, Francis Ngannou steamrolled through the Brazilian colossal Renan Ferreira on his PFL debut. He registered a first-round knockout, following which ‘The Predator’ was crowned the new PFL heavyweight superfights champion. After his dominant win, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul played matchmaker for Ngannou’s next clash.

What’s next for Francis Ngannou after dominating Renan Ferreira? Well, Jake Paul believes the only logical move for the Cameroonian-French star is to fight the supposed ‘greatest of all time’, Jon Jones. ‘El Gallo’ took to X, hitting up Dana White, although indirectly, to get the plans started for this epic heavyweight clash between Jones and Ngannou.

“Francis Ngannou vs Jon Jones. That’s what I want. That’s what you want. Repost this now,” Jake Paul tweeted. For starters, Dana White had already mentioned that he doesn’t like to cross-promote fights, which makes it hard to imagine getting that Jon Jones vs Francis Ngannou fight. “Why would we do [cross promotions]… if somebody’s that good that’s in one of these other organizations, they’re gonna end up here, anyway,” the UFC CEO stated in 2023.

However, Dana White did show a glimpse of being open to cross-promoting a fight when he had a recent visit to Saudi Arabia for a meetup with HE Turki Alalshikh. The chairman of the General Entertainment Authority seems to be pushing for the Ngannou vs. Jones fight.

Could Turki Alalshikh sway Dana White to set up Francis Ngannou vs Jon Jones?

Saudi Arabia has somewhat become the destination for combat sports, setting up some epic boxing clashes in the past couple of years. The man behind these successes, Turki Alalshikh, gained a lot of respect from Dana White after the UFC CEO witnessed the growth of combat sports in the Middle Eastern nation. Speaking of big fights, Alalshikh has been pretty vocal about his wish to see Francis Ngannou compete against Jon Jones in the past, and White seemed to give a little bit of hope that it could happen due to the Saudi officials’ involvement in this scenario.

“What this guy [HE Turki Alalshikh] has done in a short amount of time is pretty incredible, so we’re obviously talking about lots of different options with this guy. I respect him. I like him, so we will see what the future holds,” Dana White stated earlier this year before taking a dig at Francis Ngannou, given that his relationship with the French-Cameroonian soured following the latter’s UFC departure. “Francis didn’t wanna fight Jon Jones. There is nothing for him to prove now. He already moved up to heavyweight and walked through. Francis Ngannou barely made it through Ciryl Gane. If Ciryl Gane doesn’t go for that submission, Ciryl Gane wins that fight. Jon Jones walked through him.”

Jake Paul seems to be in Dana White’s good books now after the UFC CEO revealed to have no beef with ‘El Gallo’ after UFC 306. So could he give in to his demand to see Jon Jones fight Francis Ngannou? Well, that remains to be seen.