Francis Ngannou will pick "30 million dollar" boxing payday before facing Jon Jones in the UFC, says Henry Cejudo

Henry Cejudo believes Francis Ngannou will fight in boxing before taking on Jon Jones inside the UFC octagon. Cejudo noted that a boxing fight would be too lucrative a deal for Ngannou to turn down as it involves a potential $30 million payday.

'Triple C' said in an interview with The Schmo:

"I think Francis Ngannou is probably gonna take heavyweight money in boxing. That's his plan. I mean, you're talking about a 30 million dollar payday in comparison to whatever he was getting paid in MMA. So I think he's gonna go that route first and then after that maybe go up against Jon and come back to the UFC."

Watch Cejudo's comments at the 10:40 mark of the video below:

Jones has been training at Cejudo's Fight Ready MMA in Arizona as he prepares for his long-awaited octagon return. 'Bones' was initially expected to make his return against heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou, but later shifted his focus to former champ Stipe Miocic.

While the UFC was reportedly targeting Jones vs. Miocic for UFC 282 in December, that fight is seemingly off the cards for now.

Meanwhile, Francis Ngannou has been rehabbing from knee surgery and has been engaged in a long contract dispute with the UFC. Ngannou is bound to the UFC with a championship clause that requires him to defend his title one last time before he is free to venture elsewhere.

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Francis Ngannou's coach makes revealations about the champion's knee damage

Francis Ngannou picked up a unanimous decision win over Ciryl Gane in a drag-out war at UFC 270. In the immediate aftermath of the fight, Ngannou's team made it clear that the champion had gone in with an injured knee.

'The Predator' had gone on to fight against doctors' advice, making surgery impertive afterwards.

Ngannou's coach Eric Nicksick recently revealed the extent of the heavyweight champion's injury going into his clash against Gane. According to the Xtreme Couture coach, their entire team had given up hope of Ngannou making it to the fight as 'The Predator' had been walking around with a knee brace for four weeks. Nicksick recently said on the Morning Kombat Podcast:

"Every one of us felt that he should pull out of the fight. We're literally walking around with an NFL lineman's knee brace for four weeks."

As per Nicksick, the doctor also told Ngannou that his knee was "shattered." Relaying Ngannou's words, the Xtreme Couture coach said:

"'He said to pull out. 'My knee is shattered. I shouldn't fight this fight but we're doing it anyways.'"

Watch Nicksick talk about Ngannou's injury at the 2:10 mark of the video below: