Ngannou was never a draw

[Bend NvR Break]

I can totally comprehend why they wouldn't want to let him do that.

But why did Dana say "He just doesn't want to fight the best fighters, he wanted easy fights, we don't do that here" ?

Why didn't he just say "Francis wanted to box and we said no."

Because he's Dana and he had to be an asshole and lie about things like he always does. Just be honest and say why Francis didn't want to sign instead of trying to belittle him. Just be straight with us.

I get it.

Why does Ngannou bring up health insurance and talks about being an employee in one breath and talks about wanting to be an independent contractor and wanting freedom in his next breath?

The point is they (both Ngannou and DW) are trying to make themselves look as best as possible while making the other side look as bad as possible. They tall about things that are completely irrelevant to the meat and potatoes sticking points of the argument.

Ngannou wants to box as the reigning UFC HW champ so he can attempt to hunt down a mega payday.

The UFC wants Ngannou strictly focusing on the UFC.

I have no doubt the ufc offered him a bigger contract than Lesnar. The issue is that Ngannou thinks he can get more than what the ufc is offering via boxing. Plus there's no guarantee to the ufc that after getting 25, 30, 35 million dollars that Ngannou ever comes back and fights in the ufc. McGregor sat out for 2 years with the belt after getting rich.

I think Ngannou messed up hard imo. The ufc will survive and barely skip a beat while Ngannou is just a former UFC HW champ now. He's not getting a big boxing match without the being the current UFC HW champ.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

I don’t think a lot of you people know what you’re talking about. You just hate Dana/UFC so much that you just post the way you wish things actually were. Truth be damned. I don’t like being lied to no matter who is doing it.

One guy the other day was still going with this $50M - $100M for one fight nonsense.

I hate to bring actual truth and facts into the thing.. But the last two guys Fury fought..The most recent one first.




https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/amp...salaries-money-match/y0povdeganrihzzcadpyey14

The guy before that Dillian Whyte got $7.4M on a 20/80 B Side split.



https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/amp...ll-heavyweights-make/mel6enzktd62pkfjvndvtsgn


These guys are actual known pro boxers. But a completely unknown mma guy is going to get ridiculous money? Maybe Fury will just offer Ngannou a 50/50 split? Instead of the 20/80 B Side split these last 2 guys got? Or Wilder’s 40/60 B Side split for the trilogy fight (which was written into the contract for the rematch)? Ngannou isn’t even a draw in mma. But he’s going to draw in boxing?

Ngannou has to get at least $10M just to break even at this point. While crying in the press how he’d “Never fight for $600K again”. He even had Hunto saying $600K was a joke. I guess Hunto believed the stuff Ngannou was saying. He got conned.

After playing the victim card to the hilt. Ngannou let this one slip a cpl days after the Gane fight.

I says.. Pardon? Not very honest, was he? Good luck, Francis. See if you can actually even break even. $7M he already lost plus his next UFC fight purse. It’s probably over $10M now. Depending what the UFC’s final offer was. But $10M should be easy to get, right?

But the UFC was supposed to pay him $10M+ and let him box right? No smart businessman in the world would ever agree to that.

https://www.mmafighting.com/platfor...g-ufc-deal-but-freedom-doesnt-work-with-money

I think one of the dumbest things ever is people actually believe he only makes 600K a fight lol. Champs make a lot more than what's reported.
Like poirier on paper was paid a 500K purse to fight Khabib but even Poirier admitted he made between 2.5 and 3 mil to fight Khabib.

Ngannou was making over 5 mil a fight in the ufc.

Just like Jon who said he's never made less than 5 mil for a title fight.

 

[IMPmmath]

I've ran into quite a few casuals who know Ngannou. He's definitely put in some work with his highlight reel

 

[kellier]

Thanks Dana.

he was such a non draw he was invited into the ring by Tyson fury who has made more in a fight than any ufc hw in their careers. So I agree!!

Ah stop, Ngannou went into the ring after both Usyk and then Joyce did their face offs... Fury was happy to talk bollocks since Ngannou was the reigning UFC HW champ to self promote. He had zero plans to fight Ngannou.

 

[skylolow]

No he got the smartest advice. People that really think this was a dumb move by Ngannou don't really see the big picture. They probably only watch UFC as well. Ngannou is looking to cross over and do both. That exposure to 2 completely different fan bases. UFC doesn't do a good job promoting fighters, the biggest stars promoted themselves. UFC thought Diaz bros weren't needle movers and no one cared to watch them fight. They just needed exposure and the Conor fight brought that and Nate became a star after that.

UFC had Nate Diaz under contract for a long time and couldn't promote him and had him on a low fight purse contract. After the Conor fight Diaz made the best of the situation and promoted himself and stood his ground and got a better contract. Nate Diaz was one of UFC's biggest stars but UFC never promoted him prior to the Conor rematches. They didn't understand Nate's worth/value and were surprised that he was gaining a lot of casual fans.

You bring up Wilder's last PPV numbers but he still got paid 10 million. Wilder is an 8 figure fighter - just like many other boxers. Ngannou will do just fine even as the B-Side. Boxing PPV numbers aren't super high and they still get paid more than UFC fighters. Lots of fights are also not on PPV and they still get paid millions per fight. UFC stacks their cards, boxing it's really about the main event only. Even if UFC sells high numbers, the fighters aren't getting that cut, so there's no real reason to bring up PPV numbers anyways. Only champions get a cut and it's small percentage compared to how they do the splits in boxing.

It will be interesting to see what actually becomes of Francis.

I'm not sure the Fury fight for him even exist anymore. These top guys at HW in boxing can fight each other and will always make more money than fighting Francis right now. So I don't think any of them are going to line up to fight him. I'm not sure what a Francis boxing career would look like at his age. I'm not sure what Francis vs a middle of road HW can pull for money. State of the HW division in boxing I'm guessing not a lot of money(2M+ a fight) exist until your near the top of it.

I think you not looking at the UFC big picture on stars and promotion. The UFC can't just create stars, they'd have 10 Conor's if they could. Just like the WWE that controls every aspect of the business, can't create the next Hogan, Stone Cold, Rock, etc. no matter how hard they push someone. The UFC tried to shove Northcutt and PVZ down are throats. Now the later did just fine because she is hot and makes her coin outside of combat sports. Diaz boys are just a mess to deal with. They knew that both of them draw, that is why they got great match ups when they could get them in the cage. It was just hard getting them to actually commit. Sure, some of it was UFC paying them but at the same time UFC was only going to reward them so much for BS in dealing with them. Dana said hundred times just play the game a little bit and you'll be killing it. Right and wrong on both parties, I can see both sides issues.

 

[NationWideNinja]

Consider that the offer hes gonna get from PFL/Bellator/ in guaranteed pay + sponsor money + higher ppv percentage, probably comes fairly close to whatever the UFC was offering.

Now add to that the fact that he probably gets the freedom to box or do other freakshow bouts or chase other profitable options for big money. Potentially even a huge 10 mil+ payday against Fury that probably equals 2/3 UFC mma bouts.

Now add to that the fact that he’s gonna be flatlining random bums in these orgs and not having to fight the Ganes, Stipes, Blaydes of the world.

Now add all that up and decide if he really made such a big financial blunder.

 

[kingghidrah]

Why does Ngannou bring up health insurance and talks about being an employee in one breath and talks about wanting to be an independent contractor and wanting freedom in his next breath?

Pretty obvious he's saying the UFC can't have it both ways. It can't both say
- you are an independent contractor, so no health insurance, that's on you
- oh but by the way you don't have the freedom that an independent contractor should have by law

It's not Ngannou who is being two-faced here it's the UFC. Francis is saying, pick a spot mf and stick to it

 

[Oldman1]

Perhaps the promoter needs to do a better job.

 

[Trabaho]

300 k still makes him top 10 draws in all of the UFC.

If he wasn't a draw then 99.9% fighters aren't a draw

Dumb kids think only 1 milion ppvs count.

 

[mjfan23]

Ah stop, Ngannou went into the ring after both Usyk and then Joyce did their face offs... Fury was happy to talk bollocks since Ngannou was the reigning UFC HW champ to self promote. He had zero plans to fight Ngannou.

So Tyson friggin Fury used Francis to self promote himself and the Topic of this thread is: Francis was never a draw? LMAO

 

[cmw43]

So...??

The issue was NEVER MONEY

It was freedom.

UFC was willing to pay but Ngannou wanted more freedom in his contract. That was the issue

People keep forgetting that

Freedom to get a fat pay day against Tyson Fury, he thought he'd get that red panty night.

 

[Brit_Brawler]

Base salary maybe but Lesnar earned way more with his ppv slice which I guess proves the point.
Wilder isn't a huge draw either and he gets paid. He pulled numbers fighting fury and that's it

 

[cmw43]

I think one of the dumbest things ever is people actually believe he only makes 600K a fight lol. Champs make a lot more than what's reported.
Like poirier on paper was paid a 500K purse to fight Khabib but even Poirier admitted he made between 2.5 and 3 mil to fight Khabib.

Ngannou was making over 5 mil a fight in the ufc.

Just like Jon who said he's never made less than 5 mil for a title fight.

Ngannou said he left $7million on the table by sticking to his old contract and not resigning a champion contract.

I think he did actually only get 600k, that's how he managed to fight out his contact. If he'd signed on for $4million+ a fight it would have been a multi fight deal and he wouldn't have been able to leave to chase boxing.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

If you’ve been watching the UFC long enough they can make almost anyone a draw with the right violent KO highlight reel. Being a HW helps the sell too, They can pull the whole “Baddest man on the planet” schtick

 

[kellier]

So Tyson friggin Fury used Francis to self promote himself and the Topic of this thread is: Francis was never a draw? LMAO

He used the current UFC HW champ for a photo op after the serious contenders left the ring. He also attended WWE events to self promote.

Do you really think Ngannou has value for a cross over fight without the belt?

 

[Paladin]

Right on time.

Every time!!

 

[kellier]

Its borderline incompetent that the UFC couldn't promote Ngannou better. They had issues behind the scenes, but if he was pushed like some other stars, the PPVs could have been huge IMO.

They waited 20 yrs to have a Mike Tyson esq HW champ and didn't know how to maximise that when it came along. Pretty poor from a promoter perspective

 

[mjfan23]

He used the current UFC HW champ for a photo op after the serious contenders left the ring. He also attended WWE events to self promote.

Do you really think Ngannou has value for a cross over fight without the belt?

You do know he never lost the belt and was one of the longest reigning champs? It’s very easily marketable, ufc hw champ who ufc couldn’t afford comes over to boxing to get embarrassed and finished. Not a hard sell

 

[kellier]

You do know he never lost the belt and was one of the longest reigning champs? It’s very easily marketable, ufc hw champ who ufc couldn’t afford comes over to boxing to get embarrassed and finished. Not a hard sell

With that narrative, its a squash match and those don't sell great. There has to be some edge to push sales, especially to the level where he'll make more than he would have on PPV points as UFC champ.

For comparison, Whyte made nearly £6 million against Fury @ 25/75 for his WBC mandatory and they sold out a stadium. It was the biggest purse bid in history (Fury, Wilder or AJ would have no incentive to offer Ngannou close to a 60/40 since they're the boxing draw).

Does a cross over fight with former UFC champ in 18 months have the same appeal? Even if Ngannou bags a top draw HW, I just can't see him making retirement money to justify the switch

 

[mjfan23]

With that narrative, its a squash match and those don't sell great. There has to be some edge to push sales, especially to the level where he'll make more than he would have on PPV points as UFC champ.

For comparison, Whyte made nearly £6 million against Fury @ 25/75 for his WBC mandatory and they sold out a stadium. It was the biggest purse bid in history (Fury, Wilder or AJ would have no incentive to offer Ngannou close to a 60/40 since they're the boxing draw).

Does a cross over fight with former UFC champ in 18 months have the same appeal? Even if Ngannou bags a top draw HW, I just can't see him making retirement money to justify the switch

He has complete independence now which he wanted. Now he can wrestle in wwe, join the power slap league, box on a Jake Paul show, take up acting or whatever. Do all that lower risk less demanding stuff without being under compensated and run to the ground by ufc, that’s why he switched.

U Fight Cheap obviously has a champs clause and hold out period meant to deter fighters from getting too many ideas; as that period usually renders them worthless being away from the spotlight. He couldn’t have timed his exit any better unfortunately due to that slave driver contract otherwise he obviously would have taken his belt and showed up in a boxing ring the next week to get 10 or so million to get KOd by Fury.

guys who stay around the ufc for too long usually struggle financially. Guys who leave early be it to get schooled by Jake Paul in boxing or join another org or start their own have usually been financially set and they have all repeatedly said that. Only thing usually not financially set is the org (over)paying them big bucks.

UFC though keeps on keeping on while these other orgs and opportunities come and go cause they don’t give the fighters a good share of the revenue. ufc will be fine without Francis. It would have been great for them to retain him but their priorities and goals were not synergistic enough