Jon Jones admits Francis Ngannou would’ve made for a better opponent than Cyril Gane

UFC legend Jon Jones just spoke about Francis Ngannou being replaced by Cyril Gane at UFC 285. Jones is now going to face the French up-and-comer for the vacant heavyweight title.

While ‘Jones vs Gane’ is a great fight, fans are still disappointed about Jones not facing Ngannou. From Jones’s recent statement, it seems like he also feels the same way.

Jones recently gave an interview to MMA Underground and he talked about the reputation that the Cameroonian star has in America. He felt that not only is Ngannou more popular than Gane, but he’s scarier as well.

“I feel like Francis is the more intimidating of the two. As far as Americans go, I feel like he’s more known in America.”

“Francis is this big, scary, intimidating man, whereas Ciryl is relatively unknown.”

Many in the MMA community have said that Ngannou shall figuratively remain the 225-pound champion until someone defeats him for the title. Jones also mentioned that he’d have liked to take the heavyweight championship from Ngannou.

“Francis has the belt [and] taking it from him would have been nice. It’s a different fight… Stylistically, it’s a different fight.”

Jones’s representative and advisor, Richard Schaefer, also spoke about Gane as an opponent. He said that he was a better choice than Ngannou: “Ciryl, with his skillset…is a bigger fight than Francis would have been.”

Schaefer also talked about Ngannou leaving the UFC in another interview. He feels like the former champ made a mistake by not agreeing to the UFC’s offers.

“I think he’s a terrific athlete and I think he has some big fights ahead of him and I personally think, just my feeling, that he made a mistake not working out his deal with the UFC. But it’s his decision. That’s what he is doing and the world goes on, and the UFC goes on.”