Francis Ngannou is no longer the UFC heavyweight champion. In fact, he now longer works for UFC.
Ngannou and UFC did not come to terms on a new contract, meaning he has become a free agent. UFC president Dana White confirmed that Ngannou has been stripped of his heavyweight title, which will be awarded to the winner of the Jon Jones-Ciryl Gane bout at UFC 285 in March.
That also means Jones is back. The news was broken prematurely, as an outdoor billboard ran prematurely at T-Mobile Arena ran a Jones-Gane heavyweight title graphic. It is hard to believe that there could have been that type of miscommunication, but clearly, the ad was not intended to run.
The Jones-Gane main event is an encouraging sign. After UFC and ESPN announced that the pay-per-view cost would be raised to $79.99, the only saving grace to that exorbitant price is that there should be a renewed focus on more high-profile fights. So far, that is the case. UFC 283 features two title bouts, as does UFC 284, which is headlined by the must-see Alexander Volkanovski-Islam Makhachev showdown. Now Jones is returning for UFC 285, making his long-awaited debut at heavyweight—and his first fight since February of 2020.
White also confirmed Jones signed an eight-fight deal. After a three-year absence, there will be plenty of opportunities to see Jones in the Octagon.
As for Ngannou, it will be fascinating to watch his post-UFC journey. One of the most powerful, exciting and talented heavyweights in the world, Ngannou will have no shortage of suitors. With Bellator seeking to make a splash during their CBS debut on Feb. 4, it would be monumental if the promotion were to introduce Ngannou as the newest member of the roster on the national broadcast.
Think of the possibilities of Ngannou in Bellator. That CBS card in February is headlined by Fedor Emelianenko challenging heavyweight champ Ryan Bader. Does anyone truly believe Emelianenko is going to retire after this bout? If he wins the title, then has a staredown with Ngannou, he would have to come back and defend the title. Ngannou-Emelianenko is just one of the many bouts that would draw interest in Bellator. And if Ngannou is still serious about boxing, then Bellator is the perfect home–he can fight for Bellator on Showtime, as well as compete on Showtime Boxing.
Jones and Ngannou are now set to dominate the MMA realm in 2023.
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Fewer than three weeks remain before we’ll have a bracket in hand for the 2024 men’s NCAA tournament. In that time, much will change: Huge late-season clashes and conference tournament action will play a part in who ends up dancing on Selection Sunday. However, each week brings us more and more clarity on how the field of 68 will look. For instance, the Washington State Cougars locked themselves into the field last week by winning at the Arizona Wildcats, while other teams like the Butler Bulldogs and Utah Utes continued recent swoons to knock themselves out of the picture.
Here’s a look at where things stand in Sports Illustrated’s latest projection.
Wake Forest guard Kevin Miller drives the ball against Duke guard Jared McCain during their game on Saturday.
Cory Knowlton/USA TODAY Sports
Welcome to the projected field, Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons finally got the breakthrough win they needed to back up their lofty performance metrics, beating the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon in a win that pushed them into the Big Dance field, at least for now. A 3–1 finish to the regular season should have Steve Forbes’s team sitting pretty, though 2–2 wouldn’t be catastrophic.
In a bad weekend overall for bubble teams, no team had a worse go than New Mexico, which lost a ghastly Quad 4 home game to the Air Force Falcons to seriously jeopardize the Lobos’ NCAA tournament hopes. It doesn’t knock them out just yet, but the margin of error is now incredibly slim, especially given New Mexico’s entire résumé has been built on the work it has done in league play. The Lobos would be advised to win at either the Boise State Broncos or Utah State Aggies down the stretch to secure a bid.
The UConn Huskies’ stay at No. 1 overall is short-lived, with Purdue reasserting itself in the top spot following the Huskies’ loss to the Creighton Bluejays. The Boilermakers could add some distance between themselves and the field with a strong finish against a schedule that features games against Michigan State, the Wisconsin Badgers and Illinois Fighting Illini before conference tournament time.
Meanwhile, it’s worth zooming in on Kansas’s potential case for a No. 1 seed after the Jayhawks dominated the Texas Longhorns over the weekend. Kansas has an elite win over UConn and 12 total wins against the top two quadrants. The Jayhawks may have the best chance of anyone to usurp Arizona for the fourth and final No. 1 seed.
Predictive metrics love Illinois, but the Illini haven’t been quite consistent enough to surge up the seed list. Last week’s road loss at the Penn State Nittany Lions wasn’t disastrous, but it did serve as a fairly effective momentum-killer for any sustained climb toward a No. 2 or 3 seed. The Illini play three Quad 1 games in their final four Big Ten games though, so the chances are there if they can take advantage.
Is Florida Atlantic safe? For now, yes. The Owls have slowly trickled down to a No. 9 seed after losing at Memphis and have a bit of a strange résumé overall, with a monster neutral court win over Arizona but two horrific losses and a few Quad 2 losses more recently have made things somewhat dicey. Winning two out of three down the stretch would do the trick, but 1–2 could see the Owls in somewhat precarious shape heading into conference tournament time.
Washington State forward Andrej Jakimovski shoots against Arizona during their game last week.
Houston took over the No. 1 spot in the AP poll this week. For now, the Cougars stay as our third overall seed, but the gap is narrowing as the Cougars rack up wins in Big 12 play. The Cougars are a ridiculous 13–3 against the top two quadrants and own five Q1A wins, the best possible wins on the NCAA’s team sheets. Like with UConn vs. Purdue, for geographic purposes Houston is happy to land in the South and should end up there regardless of where on the overall seed list they land. Still, it would be quite the achievement to land as No. 1 overall in the program’s first year in the Big 12.
Michigan State is officially back into the danger zone after consecutive home losses to the Iowa Hawkeyes and Ohio State Buckeyes. At 17–11, the Spartans’ record is generally underwhelming, and they’ve beaten just two surefire NCAA tournament teams. Tom Izzo’s NCAA tournament streak is in some jeopardy, though it would take a rough finish to land outside the field altogether.
Creighton may have lost Sunday at St. John’s, but the Bluejays are up to a No. 3 seed after landing a top-tier win over UConn last week. There’s a lot to like here: strong metrics across the board, 12 Quad 1 and 2 wins and now a win over a likely No. 1 seed. The ceiling here is probably the No. 3 line, but either way, Creighton now looks well-positioned for a protected seed.
Texas stayed just above our true “bubble” but hasn’t quite locked up a bid just yet. The Longhorns have a pretty 17–10 overall record, but are just 6–8 in league play and accomplished nothing of substance in the nonconference. A 1–3 finish in league play could make things very interesting in Rodney Terry’s first season on the job.
