Alistair Overeem: Jon Jones can “definitely” beat Francis Ngannou

Alistair Overeem is very confident that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones could win a heavyweight fight with Francis Ngannou.

Jones and Ngannou have been going back and forth on social media over the last week or so, with both men expressing their interest in a potential fight.

Overeem has an interesting vantage point with respect to this potential matchup, having trained with Jones and fought Ngannou.

By his estimation, it is definitely a fight the light heavyweight champion can win.

Having faced Francis Ngannou and trained with Jon Jones, @alistairovereem loves the idea of a “mega fight” between the two and “definitely thinks Jon could beat him.” (via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/mhVcXT4Aae

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 18, 2020

“I’ve been seeing that online, I love that idea of them two,” Overeem told ESPN. “I just love it. I definitely think Jon can beat him.”

While Overeem believes this is winnable fight for Jones, he doesn’t expect to the light heavyweight to take the fight — contrary to his comments on social media.

“To be honest, with all due respect, I do not think Jon is gonna do that fight,” Overeem said. “[He has] not much to win, a lot to lose. Because if he wins, he’s not heavyweight champion. The fight after that would be for the title, I guess.”

While Overeem isn’t particularly optimistic this fight will happen, he hopes it will. At the very least, he’s enjoying Jones and Ngannou’s back-and-forth trash talk.

“It’s a complex situation, but I definitely think Jon can beat him,” Overeem said. “It would be mega-fight. So it’s definitely something I am very much looking forward to …. I really enjoy these guys smack talking back and forth. It’s really amusing, and hopefully it will produce some great, great mega fights.”

Who do you think would win a fight between Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou? Do you share Alistair Overeem’s confidence in a Jones victory?