Derrick Lewis undermines Jon Jones' bargaining power with a tweet telling UFC he'll take less money to fight Francis Ngannou
Derrick Lewis has jumped into the feud between the UFC and Jon Jones, which started after 'Bones' demanded more pay to fight newly-crowned heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. 'The Black Beast' took to Twitter and offered to fight Francis Ngannou for a sum of $8 million.
"I’ll do it for 8 million shiiiittt @ufc," Derrick Lewis tweeted.
Derrick Lewis' tweet took a jab at Jon Jones, who recently shared the details of a telephonic conversation with the UFC's lawyer Hunter Campbell in a tweet.
Bones told the UFC lawyer that an eight to ten million dollar pay is not justified for the mega-fight that Francis Ngannou vs Jon Jones has the potential to be. Lewis' offer to fight Francis Ngannou for $8 million is consistent with his humorous persona on social media.
Following his 12-year unbeaten run in the UFC's light-heavyweight division, former champion Jon Jones announced his decision to move up to the heavyweight division in 2020.
Jones is already among the greatest MMA fighters and becoming champion in a second division is likely to cement his place as the consensus greatest fighter of all time.
Dana White named Derrick Lewis as a potential challenger for Francis Ngannou
Earlier this year, UFC president Dana White announced that Jon Jones would face the winner of Stipe Miocic vs Francis Ngannou 2. However, following Ngannou's knockout win over Miocic at UFC 260, Jon Jones posted a cryptic tweet demanding higher pay for accepting the Francis Ngannou fight.
Dana White was asked to give his opinion on the tweet during the post-fight press conference. White responded that outpricing themselves is one of the methods that fighters employ to decline difficult fights and questioned Jon Jones's willingness to take the Francis Ngannou fight.
"I can sit here all day and tell you what 'show me the money' means. I tell you guys this all the time - you can say you wanna fight somebody but do you really want to?" Dana White said.
Dana White went on to bring up Derrick Lewis' as a possible challenger to Francis Ngannou if Jones refused to take the fight. Derrick Lewis is the second and the last fighter to defeat Ngannou in the UFC, with the first being former champion Stipe Miocic.
"Derrick Lewis is the fight to make, but if Jon Jones really wants that fight, listen, it’s one thing to go out and tweet and say you want it, and I put on the weight and this and that – do you want the fight? I promise you we can call Derrick Lewis or one of these other heavyweights and they want the fight," said Dana White.