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.