It's a "shame" that UFC's got "too big an ego" to let Jon Jones fight Francis Ngannou, says Randy Couture

Randy Couture recently shared his thoughts on the UFC seemingly not playing ball to book a fight between Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones. The former three-time heavyweight champion slammed the promotion's "ego" for getting in the way of a potential Jones-Ngannou fight and recalled going through a similar situation.

Earlier this month, White claimed that Ngannou was to blame for the Jones fight falling through and that they did everything in their power to try to book the matchup. While Jones was keen on fighting Ngannou, the Cameroonian allegedly held up the deal.

Later, 'The Predator' dismissed White's claims and clarified that he didn't want to get trapped into signing a new deal with the UFC over Jones. Given that Ngannou has signed with the PFL and is set to make his promotional debut against Renan Ferreira in October, a Jones fight doesn't seem likely for the Cameroonian thanks to the UFC's historic aversion to co-promoting events.

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Couture addressed the issue and pointed out that he went through a similar situation during his time in the UFC. Blaming the promotion's ego for a Jones-Ngannou fight not materializing, he said:

"I know the UFC’s got too big an ego to let that happen. That’s why the Fedor [Emelianenko] fight never happened [for me]. Because M-1 wanted to do a co-promotion, and the UFC’s never going to let that happen." [H/t: MMA Fighting]

Watch Randy Couture's full interview below:

---

Francis Ngannou addresses Dana White blaming him for Jon Jones fight not materializing

After Dana White blamed Francis Ngannou for holding up a potential Jon Jones fight, 'The Predator' recently issued his response and slammed the UFC CEO for trying to manipulate the narrative surrounding the matter.

During a pre-fight press conference ahead of his PFL debut against Renan Ferreira in October, Ngannou claimed it was Jones who avoided the fight and not the other way around. The Cameroonian said:

"I think that’s the new narrative since he needs to say something either way. As far as I’m concerned, it was Jon Jones who didn’t want to fight me - according to them. So many times we sit down on the meeting, [they said,] ‘Oh, it can’t happen, Jon Jones doesn’t want to fight anymore. He’s living in Albuquerque, he’s living his small life, he has a lot of money in his bank account... I think the guy who controls the narrative can say whatever he wants. But that’s just the narrative."