Nakisa Bidarian says he’s willing to team up with the UFC to finally stage a long-discussed superfight between Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou.
Speaking after MVP MMA 1 in Inglewood, Calif., the Most Valuable Promotions co-founder outlined his openness to a co-promotion with Dana White and the UFC to make Jones vs. Ngannou a reality. At the event, former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou fought for Most Valuable Promotions and knocked out Philipe Lins in their inaugural MMA show on Netflix.
After the fight, Ngannou reiterated his interest in facing Jones, who was in attendance and interacted with him. On the Netflix broadcast, Jones stated that he wants to get out of his UFC contract so he can fight Ngannou.
Bidarian pointed to other sports and combat promotions as examples, saying, "If you look at the boxing landscape, co-promotion happens all the time," and adding, "If you look at MMA outside the UFC, co-promotion happens all the time. If you look at the NBA, they go to Europe and play other teams. They go to Asia, and they play against Asian teams. They go to Australia, and they play against Australian teams. It happens all the time. The biggest moment the UFC has had in history was a co-promotion. It was with Mayweather and McGregor. It was the biggest associated event Dana has touched in terms of revenue. So hopefully there is a door, hopefully that can happen. We're more than willing. There are no hurt feelings. There's no, 'Hey, we can't work with them because they take shots at us.' Exactly the opposite: Let's do it and make it a moment the world stops and enjoys these two men who are at the crescendo of their careers, probably given their careers and wear and tear, especially with Jon. The fans deserve it. The sport deserves it, and we'd love to do it."
Despite that enthusiasm, Bidarian also expressed doubt about the chances of getting UFC on board. "I don't think it's realistic because I don't think Dana is going to allow that in any way, shape, or form because they know it will be the biggest fight that can happen at the heavyweight division in a long time," he said, later adding, "I wish it could happen, and I think Jon deserves that moment. I think the sport deserves that moment."
