PFL CEO Peter Murray has asked the UFC to “step up” and make the Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou super-fight. ‘The Predator’, of course, was slated to fight ‘Bones’ in the UFC, but the consensus MMA GOAT took too long to bulk up from 205lbs. By the time Jones was ready to fight at heavyweight last year, ‘The Predator’ had already left the promotion, and that too on pretty bad terms.

But in the past few months, there has been renewed buzz about a potential Jones-Ngannou bout with both men having expressed interest in it. And UFC analyst extraordinaire, Chael Sonnen thinks that the PFL is doing the right thing. Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former UFC superstar put the PFL CEO’s comments in context, explaining why this is the right move for them.

“The story as the PFL would like it to be told, and they were the ones telling the story are- ‘our partners,’ the PFL does business in Riyadh with the same folks the UFC does business with in Riyadh ‘our partners want Francis Ngannou versus Jon Jones.’ And see, you got to understand this is a very good play, and there’s not a lot of plays around it,” Sonnen said.

Sonnen, who was at a time the epitome of self-promotion in his fighting days, tipped his hat to the PFL for a veritable genius promotional move by putting the prospects of Jones-Ngannou in the MMA fans’ consciousness.

“You can try to dismiss it if you want. Then again, addressing it becomes kind of tough. Like that’s called fight promotion- you start addressing[it]… and it doesn’t matter how good your arguments are, or even what they are, as long as they exist. It keeps it alive and it raises it and it raises it raises. And that’s fight promotion,” he added.

This is why ‘Uncle Chael’ concluded that “The first step that any of you will see in the direction of Jon Jones taking on Francis Ngannou, the first step will be the UFC addressing and refusing the contest.”

Of course, UFC CEO Dana White has already shot down the prospects of a Jones-Ngannou fight repeatedly. This is why it is worth mentioning that even if the first steps have been taken toward the Jones-Ngannou, there are still many many more steps to go. Why? Well, let us take a look.

Why the UFC will be opposed to a Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou clash

The UFC does not want any real competition. So much so that it bought up Pride FC, Strikeforce, and WEC, which were its fiercest competitors. Today the Dana White-led promotion generates 90% of all revenue generated in the entire sport of MMA. For its part, PFL, too, is pretty serious about competing with the UFC and bought Bellator last year to become the second-largest MMA promotion in the world.

And a co-promotion with the UFC (which would be the only way Jones-Ngannou could happen) would undoubtedly be a huge event for the PFL. Not so much for the UFC, which is already synonymous with MMA, but it would be big publicity for the Peter Murray-led promotion. And knowing the UFC, they will be loathe to help put the PFL over.

On the other hand, this is the fight business, and here, money talks! Could the UFC be offered an astronomical amount of money by the Saudis that it just cannot refuse? Yes. Especially given the seemingly inexhaustible pool of money the Saudis have access to. But at the moment, Dana White is clear- Jones vs. Ngannou is a non-starter. What the future holds, however, is unknown at the moment. What do you think about Chael Sonnen’s take on a possible Jones-Ngannou clash?