Francis Ngannou responds to recent criticism from Jon Jones: “Jonny boy pick a side of the fence”

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has responded to the recent criticism he received from Jon Jones.

Jones (26-1 MMA) will return to the Octagon for the first time in over three years this Saturday night in the main event of UFC 285. ‘Bones’ is set to square off with Ciryl Gane (11-1 MMA) for the promotion’s vacant heavyweight world title.

Ahead of the highly anticipated matchup, Jon Jones sat down with RMC Sport where he claimed that Francis Ngannou wasn’t willing to “gamble on himself”, and thus their proposed super-fight never came to fruition.

“I don’t think I deserve any criticism. I’m here, I’m here. Francis has the opportunity to face me, and he opted out of the opportunity. If anyone should be criticized, it is Francis Ngannou. If I’m correct, he was offered the biggest contract in heavyweight history. He had the opportunity to be the guy to dethrone me,” Jones said.

“He didn’t believe in himself, Francis didn’t believe in himself, he wasn’t willing to gamble on himself. I felt bad for the fans.”

Jones would later take to Twitter where he explained why he “changed his tone” on Ngannou and chose to attack him.

I found an interview of Francis talking about he’ll forever be the undisputed champion because no one beat him. Once I saw that, my tone changed. I thought I would tell how I really felt. He did make the right decision, he left before I came back. Smart move!

— BONY (@JonnyBones) February 25, 2023

“I found an interview of Francis talking about he’ll forever be the undisputed champion because no one beat him. Once I saw that, my tone changed. I thought I would tell how I really felt. He did make the right decision, he left before I came back. Smart move!”

Now two days removed from Jones’ criticism going public, Francis Ngannou has taken to social media with a response for “Jonny boy”.

https://twitter.com/francis_ngannou/status/1630361112146477064

“Jonny boy pick a side of the fence 😂” – Ngannou wrote while captioning a photo Jones seemingly contradicting himself.

“He was never the light heavyweight champion,” Jones previously said of his longtime rival Daniel Cormier. “He never beat me. This has been my era since 2011. I want to make that loud and clear. ‘DC’ is no champ-champ. When we talk about the asterisk next to my name, there’s always going to be an asterisk next to the idea of him being a champ-champ.”

Obviously, Francis Ngannou believes the same logic listed above would apply to Jon Jones winning the heavyweight title on Saturday night by defeating Ciryl Gane.

Do you think we will ever see Jones and Ngannou collide in the cage?