The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Daniel Cormier Show - DC REACTS to Francis Ngannou LEAVING PFL, Francis vs. Jon Jones next?

Episode Date: March 7, 2026

Francis Ngannou has OFFICIALLY left the PFL after fighting one fight in the last two years since joining them, and has now become a free agent that could join the UFC! Daniel Cormier gives his reaction to the huge news in MMA, and why Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou at the White House could be the perfect fight. Plus, DC discusses Alex Pereira vs. Jon Jones and where Francis fits into the heavyweight picture.  All lines provided by Hard Rock BetSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All right, guys. Hey, you guys know every time I'm here at the apex, something big must have happened, so I got to jump on right away. But today's episode is brought to you by Total Wireless, the official wireless provider of UFC. They're in your corner with unlimited 5G data that will not slow you down. Now guys, that is a total power move. You want us to power move?

Let me tell you something, man, about the PFL. I think the PFL at times gets things wrong. I thought the PFL got things right when they signed Francis. I think the PFL at this point might be making the right decision at the right time by cutting ties with the big man. But why? Why do I say that? Because it excites me. Because if the big man is on the free agent market, that gives me the idea that it's possible that he could come back and fight here.

Look, we have a massive card at the White House, right? We have a heavyweight division that's in flux. yesterday Tom Aspinall signed with Eddie Hearn Who by the way, Dana White and Eddie Hearn are fighting I mean last week Dana White called him the biggest pussy He's ever seen in the entire life Then goes on today and says he has no problem with Eddie Hearn So this whole thing is crazy, right?

Well, the heavyweight champion is out Tom Aspinall The former heavyweight champion now is a free agent We have the White House cart where John Jones says He's negotiating with the UFC on whether or not he's on Francis and Ghana will becoming available now makes, it plays a factor in all these things. And let me tell you how, right? Tom Aspinall's with Eddie Hur and say he can't really come to terms of the UFC.

If the UFC can get Francis Ganoo back in the fold, then you start making fights with him and say he always was the champion, he just left for a while. John Jones gives you too many problems to get on the White House, right? Or it's not working. Francis Gano is on the market. you kind of pivot and go, well, Francis, can we get together and talk about maybe you fighting at the White House?

That takes a little bit of that leverage from the Jones side. And then also it just gives us the chance to have Francis back in the UFC. Now, I don't know that that's going to happen because it seems like the UFC and our, yeah, Dana and Francis aren't really coming together in the way that they would need to in order to make that happen. But, hell, we have seen things happen in sport, especially. entertainment more than I can come to tell you. So, CM Bunk hated the WWE.

He's back now. We've seen so many, Brock Lesnar, it looked like Brock Lesnar would never get back in the WWE after all the things that he did. He's back now. So many people have had issues with the organization and they've been back. Why does that matter?

Why am I speaking in WWE? Well, these moves have happened under the TKO manner, right? where TKO, which is the parent company of the UFC, the WBE, where they say, even though there is bad blood, the bottom line means and matters more. So we can look past the issue to get to what we're trying to do, right? Which is make the biggest and best matches for WrestleMania, Summers, I'm all those things.

You would imagine that maybe the UFC would take the same stance when it comes to a guy like Francis. But I'll tell you, hey, man, come on, come on, Chris. The PFL, I got Chris White Man here, Chris, come here. Chris, did the PFL get screwed? What up, guys? Did the PFL get screwed? Francis fought one time there.

Remember he signed it 23. It was the biggest deal of all time. He was going to be an ambassador from fighters. His opponents were going to get paid very well. But he bops more than he actually fought MMA. So did the PFL get screwed? And what does that, like, what does this mean to you here that Francis on the market? Do you think the UFC could come to terms with them?

And do you agree with my idea that it takes leverage off of the Jones plate? It takes leverage off of the Tom Aspenall plate. Everything. Does it affect everything like I feel? Yeah, I think it looks like the PFL got screwed. It looks like they weren't happy with the deal. They probably overpay Francis for that first MMA fight. And then he was boxing and they weren't willing to pay him again.

They realized they didn't get the numbers. that they needed to. So it looks like they're moving on. But I do think this makes things very interesting, especially for this White House. Because we've been talking about the John Jones-Paheya fight, and they're saying they're going to be announcing the fights on Saturday. So if Francis de Gano, if the UFC just found out Francis deGano got,

became a free agent, do we make a quick turnaround? What's bigger? John Jones, Francis deGano, or Alex Beheya versus John Jones? Well, I think we both can agree that John Jones is the, is the sticking point. You got to have Jones. First off, because he's American. He's an American guy. I think Jones is the one that stays regardless.

Francis Jones, a Pereira Jones. I think Francis. You got to go France. I think Francis versus John Jones is the bigger fight. I agree. Because there was a long history there. They were supposed to fight. People were acting like John Jones was scared of Francis.

He wasn't. Then Francis was scared of John Jones. He wasn't. I'm just saying that's what the talk was. and here we go. Is it two years or something? Three years later? 23.

23 is when he signed with the PFL. But remember, Francis had really bad issues with the UFC. I mean, talking about like those guys, they don't like. But, but, but again, TKO's the parent company now. They have shown time and time again that they can look past the personal to get back to making the money. A hundred, but business is business. I think they can look past it and I think, I hope they can make that happen. You want to make, you want Franks?

I think Francis would be sick against John Jones. Because, you know, Peheya, that fight would be, that fight would be sick too. It would be. It would be great. A lot of people would be like, John Jones is going to go out there and take him down. We've seen him get taken down by Israel Osadio. But that was so long ago. He's much better now.

I agree. I agree with all those things. But that's where people's minds are going to be a little bit. So Francis Gano is a monster. Can John Jones just throw him around? I don't think so. Can you just take him down like that? No, I think he's going to have to stay with it.

Hey, Francis hits hard, he's big. And obviously he's gotten better at boxing. If he was training for two boxing fights against two of the greatest boxers in the world. Yeah. You'd imagine he's even more dangerous today than he was even back then. Yeah. If they can make that fight happen, please let's make that fight happen. My man, Chris Wyman.

Guys, it changes everything. It changes everything this guy being on the market. I believe that if you're the UFC, you take a close look. I'm not saying you have to do it. I'm saying no. You take a close look at what it would take to make this happen. Because I'm telling you, it helps everything. It helps every situation.

If there is a... Tom Aspenov is the heavyweight champion in the world. Make no mistake about it. He's the best heavyweight in the world. Or at least when John Jones retired, that's exactly what he was. And so many believed that he would beat John Jones even if they fought. So Tom Aspinall is the heavyweight champion in the world. But if Tom Aspinall is having trouble coming to terms with the UFC,

if Tom Aspinall is injured as he is and out for as long as it seems like he will be, to put the former heavyweight champion who walked away with the belt back in there would be a massive deal. I don't know. This is all me guessing because I don't know anything. But I know that the first thing I've thought, when I woke up this morning and saw that Francis Gano had been released by the PFL, first was like, why would they do that? is it smart that right now they're cutting their losses and going, okay, this Francis and Gano experiment did not work? But immediately my mind shifted to, wow, this is great for the UFC

and fans around the world who love mixed martial arts because potentially they could get the opportunity to see him back in the octagon. And if you see him back in the octagon, they have massive fights all across the heavyweight division for him. All across the heavyweight division. Hey, John Jones, you don't want to fight Tom Aspinall? Okay, let's do Tom Aspinall Francis and Ghana. Right? Let's do the former heavyweight champ versus the current Heavenly Champion.

Let's do that. Okay. John, you want to fight a super fight with Alex Pereira? Okay, we'll do John Jones. Sorry, we'll do Tom Aspinna versus Francis. It just would make, to me, it just feels like it would make the division a little bit more exciting to have a bunch of guys at the top that could fight each other. Because right now, Alex Verra is a heavyweight. Excitement. John Jones is back as a heavyweight. Excitement. Aspinot is the heavyweight champ.

Excitement. You start putting the big dog in there too? Big Frank. The heavyweight division starts to look viable again. Now, remember, he's 39 years old. He only fought one MMA fight in the PFL. He has not fought MMA that long. But I'm telling you, when you possess the power he has and all that danger, man, maybe he's still viable. And even if not for anything more than to get that one fight that so many thought, man, if we could get Jones in France to get that one fight, you want to talk about making the biggest fight ever on the White House long? I think that's it.

I think that's the biggest fight hour. We'll see. We'll see what happens Saturday. I'm hoping I'm not sure. Until next time, guys. Peace. Hey, guys, it's us and the Jonas brothers. I'm Joe.

I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know. Tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Tolodano. It's our favorite.

favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was calling it. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to you.

He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva. And on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be?

I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to fupas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.