The signal came not from Paul’s post itself, but from the man it named. Jon Jones, still contracted to the UFC and openly feuding with Dana White for months, pushed Paul’s plea out to his own feed on Monday, 19 October 2026.

The timing was the point. Earlier the same day, Shakur Stevenson confirmed he had been released from Zuffa Boxing without ever fighting under the White-led banner.

“I requested to be released from Zuffa Boxing. Now, over the weekend, my request has been granted, and now I am officially a free agent,” Stevenson said.

“It is what it is. This is the business of boxing. I’m not mad at anyone, I’m not pointing fingers.”

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Within hours, Paul used Stevenson’s exit as a template.

‘Let Jon fly’

Paul tagged both Jones and Francis Ngannou in a post on X aimed squarely at White.

“Can Jon Jones request a release like Shakur Stevenson so we can go ahead and do this Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones fight?”

“They already said they are never working with Francis. So let Jon fly and we can give the fans what they want.”

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Ngannou, who left the UFC in 2023 and now competes under Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions MMA venture, answered with a single line.

“Freedom isn’t free; it’s not given, but it’s taken.”

The fight the UFC has kept off the table

Jones against Ngannou has been the lingering what-if of modern heavyweight MMA. The two never shared a cage during Ngannou’s UFC run, and his acrimonious departure from the promotion closed the door from one side. The UFC’s position, as Paul alluded to in his post, is that it will not do business with Ngannou going forward.

Jones, meanwhile, has been drifting towards the exit on his own. He retired after defending the UFC heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic in 2024 and spent much of 2026 publicly at odds with White, requesting a release after being excluded from the UFC’s planned White House card. His repost of Paul’s message adds a fresh push to a request that has so far gone nowhere.

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Ngannou’s own schedule underlines Paul’s leverage. The former UFC heavyweight champion returned to MMA under MVP in May 2026 with a first-round knockout of Philipe Lins, and he remains the biggest free-agent name at the weight.

Dana White has not responded

The UFC CEO has not commented publicly on Paul’s request, and the promotion rarely cuts marquee contracted fighters loose to rival outfits. Stevenson’s exit, however, was from White’s own boxing arm, which gives Paul a direct precedent to point at.

For now, Jones remains a UFC fighter on paper, and Ngannou remains under contract to Paul’s promotion.

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