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Francis Ngannou has explained how the UFC forced him into signing a contract after his fight against Junior dos Santos. Ngannou faced the former UFC heavyweight champion in June 2019 and secured a dominant win via first-round TKO.
Ngannou addressed this during the latest edition of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. Helwani referenced a question that a reporter at a recent press conference asked ‘The Predator'.
He recalled that the reporter suggested that Ngannou’s issues with the UFC aren’t limited to mere financial disagreements. Helwani indicated that even if Ngannou were to be paid $10 million or $20 million by the UFC, it’s the other limitations in his contract that are bothering ‘The Predator'. The UFC heavyweight kingpin responded by stating:
“Yeah, yeah. No. no, it’s not about that. It hasn’t been about that anymore. Like, I’ve been in this position. They’ve put me in this position. And I felt powerless for so long. And I realized that this shouldn’t happen. This is not right and shouldn’t be happening. You know, even after the JDS [Junior dos Santos] fight, they wanted me to sign a contract. And I didn’t want to sign a contract by that time. And they just tried to freeze me. Like, put you down for 10 months, 11 months; get you go out of money."
Ngannou added:
"They know you’re gonna go out of money because they know exactly how much you’re making, and they know that you can’t go so very far with that money. And they will just like, kind of like, a way of forcing you to sign a new deal; the way that they operate, which is something that I can’t comply to…This been going on for over two years.”
Watch Francis Ngannou’s conversation with Ariel Helwani in the video below:
Francis Ngannou is open to fighting boxing icon Tyson Fury
Francis Ngannou is fresh off a unanimous decision win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 on January 22nd. The Cameroon native currently holds the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship but is willing to part ways with the promotion if need be.
The 35-year-old’s UFC 270 fight was the final one on his current contract. Additionally, the contract will expire in December 2022. Ngannou has consistently maintained that he’s interested in signing a new contract with the UFC, provided that they offer him a pay raise and let him try his hand at the sport of boxing.
Following Francis Ngannou’s UFC 270 win, heavyweight boxing great Tyson Fury insinuated that ‘The Predator’ ought to face him in the boxing ring. Ngannou, on his part, replied by tweeting a poster of a possible fight between them.
