"Ego takes over" - Francis Ngannou gets real with Joe Rogan on negotiations and how he deals with them

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou made waves in January when he announced his decision to vacate the title and leave the promotion after his contract had expired.

Ngannou was frustrated over the lack of autonomy in his own professional career and left the world's premier MMA promotion in pursuit of other challenges, such as boxing.

Ngannou has negotiated a record deal with the Professional Fighters League. He has also signed on to make his professional boxing debut against world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

In a recent appearance on Joe Rogan's The Joe Rogan Experience, Francis Ngannou outlined his approach towards negotiations:

“We spoke, I hear them out and I knew them, right and I’m like okay, this is legit. That’s where I now put them in contact with my team to negotiate. Because they wanted me to do everything less, negotiate less. I’m like I don’t do negotiation, I listen, I talk about how I would like things to go but I don’t like to negotiate personally. ‘Oh I want this, I deserve this...’ You know, I’d rather have somebody do that on my behalf."

Francis Ngannou also outlined the perils of not having an intermediary in negotiations.

"It’s always good to have somebody in the middle that would take the temper of both parties cause a deal can fall off just because somebody’s mad and this, and his ego takes over and the deal’s off, right? But when there’s somebody in between, you always come to, okay, it’s not him and to think about it. Not frustrating, but over the time you learn, you understand how it works and it’s pretty easy.”

Check out Ngannou's comments below:

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Francis Ngannou explains to Joe Rogan his decision to sign with PFL

Francis Ngannou's deal with the PFL was groundbreaking because it went beyond just offering him more pay, it also guaranteed him influence in the promotion's developmental programs and a massive fight purse for his potential opponents.

Ngannou explained how the terms of the PFL contract made a massive difference in his decision to go with PFL.

"The way they structured it, I was already happy… But we kept that contract, at that time I was like, ‘Why rush into anything, take some time’, no, I didn’t sign. But, when I was putting the contract next to the PFL one, it was day and night… Yeah, [the PFL’s was better].”

Check out the full podcast below on Spotify: