Jon Jones? Israel Adesanya? Pfffft … hit the showers, rookies.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and celebrity boxer Jake Paul will star in the two most exciting pay-per-view (PPV) MMA fights of the year, second only to Irish mega star Conor McGregor, when Professional Fighters League (PFL) showcases its “Super Fight” division to thirsty combat sports fans in 2024.
That’s according to PFL head cheese Donn Davis.
“A lot of the internet is into winners and losers,” Davis told My Mom’s Basement. “Whether it’s football trades or the Francis Ngannou deal. I view this as win, win, win. This is a great deal for Francis for all the reasons it’s discussed online and social. This is a huge win for PFL, opens our pay-per-view division, we got Francis and Jake as headliners in 2024. Probably the two most exciting fights you could ever have other than Conor [McGregor], who’s still a sensation. It brings a huge audience draw to our media product, it is gonna bring in other fighters you’ve seen see the way to another great platform in the PFL. It’s also a win for UFC. They’re gonna be just fine, they made their business decision and they’re still the leader in the game. So, a lot of people want to make this ‘winners and losers’ — everybody won here.”
PFL was able to grab Ngannou from the open market after “The Predator” parted ways with UFC earlier this year. Unfortunately, fans will have to wait until 2024 for the Cameroonian slugger to make his “Smart Cage” debut. Similarly, Paul is signed to an MMA contract under the PFL banner but remains booked for the remainder of 2023 with his boxing endeavors.
Davis insists it will be worth the wait.
“To me, what’s so fun here is the mystery box of candy and everything is going to be good,” Davis said regarding Ngannou’s debut. “There’s been all kind of speculation, ranging from the PFL season to [Fabricio] Werdum. I believe it will be something else and bigger and more exciting than you’ve read so far. We have nine months — nine months ago, people would have laughed if we said Francis was gonna come to the PFL. So, if I speculated what we would do now, people would equally go, ‘Poo-pa, that will never happen.’ But believe me, don’t discount our resourcefulness, our creativity … who Francis will fight will be more interesting than what is speculated on the internet today.”
In the meantime, Ngannou will continue to pursue a career in boxing.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
