It took over two years for Francis Ngannou to return to the MMA realm and he most certainly did not disappoint. The Cameroonian-French behemoth decimated Renan Ferreira inside one round in his PFL debut. His dominant performance at PFL’s flagship event has given rise to significant buzz in the MMA community with everyone having just one question. What is next for ‘The Predator’?

Ngannou did mention not being sure about what to do next, but former UFC star Jorge Masvidal believes there’s only one fight that makes sense for ‘The Predator’. The first-ever BMF champion sat down with Andrew Whitelaw from EssentiallySports for an exclusive interview, highlighting the fact that after Francis Ngannou’s last performance, there’s hardly any doubt that the PFL Superfights heavyweight champion is the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’.

“He might have gotten knocked out by Anthony Joshua and all that but if it’s a fight, like, bro, forget about it. I think you’re dead. Francis will f—ing fold his kneecap, take him down, break his f—ing rotator cuff… Francis is a beast. He’s a problem, and he’s a teammate of mine,” Jorge Masvidal stated.

Furthermore, Francis Ngannou’s recent struggles have been well documented. He tragically lost his 15-month-old son, Kobe, and this win over Ferreira was dedicated to his memory, which was a wonderful sight for Jorge Masvidal to witness as well. “Seen him training all the time… hats off to them [the trainers], the coaching staff. They used their abilities, they took em’ [Renan Ferreira] down, they put this guy where he’s not comfortable… and took full advantage of it. You know, great game planning,” ‘Gamebred’ added.

But if you’re wondering, what is the next step for Ngannou? Well, according to Masvidal it’s “definitely” the winner of the UFC 309 heavyweight clash between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. “It’s just good to see Ngannou win, you know. He’s been through a lot and it’s good to see him win. I definitely think that the winner of Jon Jones vs Miocic should be fighting Ngannou, right? That’s just what I think but the f— do I know,” Masvidal further added during the exclusive interview with EssentiallySports.

But we know who moves the needle in the UFC, and for Francis Ngannou to fight Jon Jones, it has to get cleared by Dana White, who doesn’t seem too big of a fan of the PFL. While the rumblings about the potential heavyweight clash are going around, the UFC CEO recently ripped into the rival promotion, diminishing any chances of a cross-promotional fight.

Dana White’s recent rant on the PFL following the Francis Ngannou vs Jon Jones speculations

Dana White isn’t having any of what PFL founder Donn Davis has proposed when it comes to setting up a cross-promotional event. Moreover, there were recent reports about the PFL doing their best numbers with the recent ‘Battle of the Giants’ PPV. However, the UFC CEO had everything ready when it came to the statistics, claiming that his second promotion, Power Slap, easily did better numbers than the PFL. Hence, the idea of doing a PFL and UFC collaboration is just out of the question and White has warned Davis not to take his promotion’s name ever again.

“First of all, the PFL should keep the UFC out of their mouth. They can’t even deal with Power Slap. Power Slap destroys PFL, alright… First of all, let’s start with followers. Power Slap has 19.2 million followers, and PFL has 10. Video views. PFL Fight Week did 326 million, and Power Slap 8 did 690 million. PFL fight week [and the aftermath] Instagram views, 76 million. Power Slap 9, [just] the week off, they had 68 million on Power Slap – and we haven’t even had a fight yet,” Dana White stated during a recent Power Slap presser.

Do you think there’s any chance we get to see Francis Ngannou fight Jon Jones ever? Also, let us know what you thought about Jorge Masvidal’s insights about Francis Ngannou during the exclusive interview with EssentiallySports in the comments down below.