Francis Ngannou appears ready to entertain a clash with Robelis Despaigne after both heavyweights delivered first-round knockouts on the main card of MVP MMA 1 in Inglewood, Calif.
Ngannou stopped Philipe Lins in the first round at the Intuit Dome, while Despaigne scored his own first-round knockout over Junior Dos Santos on the same Netflix-streamed event before calling out the former UFC champion.
"Francis, let's do it," Despaigne said in his post-fight message. Ngannou responded, "Okay, then let's talk about it," and later added, "I'm down to fight. And if you think he can handle, OK, why not? He did make a statement. He had a great finish. So, I mean, after a finish like that, it's hard to argue to take something (away from) somebody."
Ngannou, who took a hiatus from MMA to pursue boxing, made it clear he wants to keep competing in big fights. "What do I want? Whatever is out there," he said. "I mean, I really have nothing special. If not, maybe that Jon Jones fight, some big fight, but I really have nothing special. I just wanna keep doing it as long as we go. If I have something, I do it. I think I have done what could have been done."
Ngannou believes there are hurdles to a potential fight with Jon Jones because Jones has several fights left on his UFC contract.
