Francis Ngannou had his fair share of issues with the UFC. While the African prodigy claimed that his disputes with the UFC were never about the money but were actually more contractual and insurance related. Now that the ‘Predator’ has been released by the UFC, others will probably reap the benefits.
Earlier Dana White appeared in the post-fight presser of the UFC Vegas 67 fight card where he addressed the Ngannou situation. Per Dana, the UFC was ready to negotiate with Francis to a great extent. At one point he was offered money that would turn him into the highest-paid heavyweight in the history of UFC.
The UFC head honcho said that Francis was going through a long recovery period following his injury after the Cyril Gane fight. Maybe he wasn’t feeling strong enough to step into the Octagon against some of the scariest fighters in the world. It is also possible that Francis started getting huge offers as he managed to make a name for himself.
Tyson Fury earlier expressed interest in fighting the reigning UFC heavyweight champ. It was later revealed that the Gypsy king took home $30 million for picking up the win against Deontay Wilder in their 3rd bout. Francis clearly wanted a piece of that boxing money too.
Jon Jones has a big enough name in the UFC for both good and bad reasons. In his early days, he was praised for his great performances while later in his career he got caught cheating and became a disgraced fighter. But since he manages to draw a lot of attention, a good payday was expected.
His manager said in a recent interview that Jones was now the highest-paid Heavyweight in the history of UFC surpassing even Brock Lesner. He insisted that the payment was only slightly lower than Conor McGregor’s.
While such claims are debatable, we hope Jones sticks around to fight the likes of Sergei Pavlovich and Stipe Miocic.
