Francis Ngannou has been calling for a fight and after Junior dos Santos pulled out, many thought Ngannou would fill in.
Yet, that was not the case as Francis Ngannou says he turned down the fight against Alexander Volkov as it didn’t make sense. But, he did want it to happen in December at UFC 245.
“Obviously, two days ago they called my manager if I wanted to fight,” Ngannou said to TMZ Sports (h/t MMA Fighting). “Like, when? Of course I want to fight. Where and when, with who? ‘In 18 days.’ Really? For what purpose? What is the goal for this fight because it’s a step down for me. We’re talking about what, a title shot guarantee, a contract renegotiation, what? ‘No, we’re not talking about that. Just a fight.’ So we think about it and we’re like, what is the purpose to risk to go to the fight without a training camp because it’s just 18 days. This fight was announced maybe two months ago…
“We prefer, okay let’s put the fight, Alexander Volkov and I in Las Vegas, which is like, in almost eight weeks, seven to eight weeks. That would make more sense. By then I’ll have a good training camp, appropriate training camp for the fight.”
For now, it seems unlikely Francis Ngannou fights again in 2019.
