Donn Davis, co-founder of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), is not concerned about the delay in Francis Ngannou‘s PFL debut due to his success in boxing, stating that Ngannou’s success will make his eventual PFL fight even bigger and more exciting.
Donn Davis is all smiles for Francis Ngannou’s triumphs. Even if it means waiting a bit longer for his Professional Fighters League (PFL) debut.
In early 2023, PFL inked a profitable deal with Ngannou. This allowed him to chase his boxing dreams, with a projected debut in 2024. And chase he did. He lost a contentious split decision to Tyson Fury, the reigning heavyweight champ, in October.
Now, he’s gearing up to go toe-to-toe with ex-heavyweight boxing champ Anthony Joshua. The match, a 10-round bout, is scheduled for this Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
This, of course, has delayed Ngannou’s PFL debut, originally planned for early 2024. Fans are left wondering if “The Predator” will ever step into the SmartCage. His boxing success has them guessing. But Davis isn’t losing sleep over it.
“I ain’t worried about my partner being too successful,” Davis quipped on The MMA Hour. He likened it to having a wealthy brother who might not take you to Cabo on his private jet. “Could I be so lucky to have this brother? I love our partner Francis Ngannou being so successful! I love it! Worried about him fighting for us? Nah. Will it take longer to schedule? Maybe. Do we need to find him a tougher opponent? You bet!”
He added, “But won’t that make the fight even more thrilling? Absolutely! Francis’ success makes finding him an opponent challenging. But it’ll make his fight even bigger for PFL. It’s gonna happen, no doubt.”
But when? Ngannou insists he’ll return to MMA eventually. However, he also plans to rematch Tyson Fury post-Joshua fight. Depending on the outcome of the Joshua fight, he might rematch Joshua too. That’s at least one more boxing match, possibly two. If Ngannou wins any of these, even more doors open for him in the boxing world.
Still, Davis firmly believes this is a good problem to have.
“I always ask, what’s the worst-case scenario?” Davis pondered. “My brother says, ‘I’ll take you to Cabo on my private jet, but not until March 2025?’ Do you say, ‘Nope! I’ll take my own camper.’ No! You wait until February 2025. Worst-case scenario, we have the biggest MMA fight in February 2025 with Francis. That’s the worst-case? Sign me up! That we have the world’s greatest fighter? Sign me up for that. That he’s shocked the boxing world and is opening up PFL Africa for us? Sign me up for that.”
“People always focus on the negatives. They say, ‘You don’t have any opponents for him.’ UFC doesn’t have any opponents for him! There’s only one guy: Jon Jones. There’s only one opponent for Francis Ngannou: Jon Jones. … It’s Jon Jones or nobody. [Renan Ferreira] is a better fight than anything over there, but none of it is Jon Jones-Francis Ngannou. That’s a one-of-a-kind, custom, heavyweight fight. Francis is now in that league. He’s above everything.”
Who knows what the future holds? Davis suggests that with both PFL and UFC partnering with Saudi Arabia, and their existing partnerships with ESPN, perhaps the unthinkable can happen. Maybe Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones can finally take place.
“To me, it’s exciting when the biggest things in the world get bigger. Because that’s what’s happening. The biggest thing was Francis and Jon Jones. Then it got bigger, because Francis now is better, and Francis now is more exciting,” Davis said. “So the biggest thing got bigger. Sometimes, that puts so much pressure, the crucible busts, and it busts in such a way that great things happen. That’s how great companies get built, that’s how great Super Bowl teams get made. Things just bust. I just think in 2025, things could happen that we can’t imagine today.”