Francis Ngannou playfully heckled Jon Jones as he offered his thoughts on his old UFC rival facing off with Anthony Joshua.
The former UFC heavyweight champion shocked the world when he dropped Tyson Fury during his controversial split decision boxing debut defeat last October.
Ngannou didn’t get the win, but he emerged from the bout with a ton of credit and earned himself another monster payday against Joshua on March 8.
‘The Predator’ briefly paused his preparations to be in the front row when Renan Ferreira and Ryan Bader battled it out for the right to face him later this year, with Ferreira going on to win in a brutal 21-second knockout.
Jones, who won the UFC belt vacated by Ngannou when he left to explore free agency, was also at the PFL vs Bellator event in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
‘Bones’ was invited onto the DAZN broadcast by his former opponent Chael Sonnen before being asked how he sees Ngannou’s upcoming boxing match playing out.
The MMA legend tried to be as respectful as he could while predicting Joshua would beat Ngannou, who was sitting just a few feet away with Mike Tyson.
“I’m rooting for Francis to win,” Jones said.
“Only because of his story, how far he’s come in life and him being a fellow mixed martial artist. Yeah, I mean how can you not root for Francis? Francis is a wonderful, stand-up person.
“So, I’m rooting for Francis, but Anthony Joshua has been doing this since he was a young boy and I’m the type of guy who just gives respect where it is due.
