Did Francis Ngannou Make a Huge Mistake Not Resigning with the UFC?

[tomjones]

Ngannou is underpaid in the ufc and moving to boxing was the logical step for him.

 

[Clark Rogers]

I think he's in for a big wakeup call (albeit via being put to sleep) if he tries to fight a Wilder or Fury. Yeh Francis has power, but so does every other pro HW boxer those guys face. Also don't think he pulls anywhere near the eyes someone like Conor does, so he'll probably not make near as much as he hoped.

Maybe he joins the PFL superfight circus headed by Paul, but I don't really see that putting on best-vs-best fights, maybe last decade's best vs an influencer.

Idk, hopefully for him I'm wrong, I hope he does well, just don't see diving in with the best HW boxers out there going good for him.

 

[MDoza]

I’m hoping it’s a positive for the UFC.

If enough top level fighters are willing to test the market like Francis, the UFC will eventually have to start paying them to stay around.

 

[ineverpost]

The UFC hasn't been the best vs the best in a long time. Conor wasn't even the start but it became a tipping point for sure

Ngannous exit is an enormous loss

That's almost an inarguably false statement. The fact is, other organizations lose money when they overpay for ex UFC fighters. Bellator has NEVER made money.

 

[Azure]

The UFC hasn't been the best vs the best in a long time. Conor wasn't even the start but it became a tipping point for sure

Ngannous exit is an enormous loss

Only because of his size.. UFC will continue and Ngannou will be either forgotten or will sign back with the UFC once he realizes the grass is not always greener.

 

[El Fernas]

He didnt quit...he will change promoter, thats all, boxers do it all the time.

 

[JumJum]

The UFC hasn't been the best vs the best in a long time. Conor wasn't even the start but it became a tipping point for sure

Ngannous exit is an enormous loss

Conor made a huge money from it which many other fighters wanted. moreno vs figueiredo, Francis vs stipe 2, Francis vs Gane, Oliveria vs Islam. UFC definitely did the best vs the best if you're not casual and should get full credit for it.

 

[tucan89]

Bad look for the promotion yes, but it’s what Francis wanted. Go fight possibly lesser competition for potentially more money at his age

 

[MeatWagon06]

JumJum is bad for Sherdoggers, but for some reason, we still read it.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

First time? We had Conor begging Mayweather on his knees. UFCs biggest star in history lol

Eitherway the UFC always wins sadly.

 

[Zarathustra611]

Who's giving him that pay day though? As I said, Usyk and Fury will probably have 2 fights then each will probably want to take out their respectively remaining top 3 HW of this era for legacy and bigger money. Francis will be sitting out 2-3 fights. Francis brings nothing to the table for AJ or Wilder who'd probably happily sit and wait for a shot at undisputed when Usyk and Fury finish their business. Francis will be pushing 40 by then and irrelevant. If he doesn't want to sit around he has no choice but to keep fighting, probably nobodies for chump change in a lesser organization. Fucking lol should he get KO'd for that chump change too.

Francis doesn't have to fight a top heavyweight. In fact, that'd be silly.

Francis should be looking at someone very beatable, who is looking for a payday.

He should be looking at Chisora or White- both semi credible but on a big downswing and he's a decent chance of knocking out or at least not getting is ears boxed off. He could have a look at someone like Justis Huni- good boxer but not a hard puncher so Francis would be in with a chance to land one and then overwhelm him. Hughy Fury has a name and again, Francis half a chance to swarm and overpower. He'd make millions fighting these guys.

He'll be thrashed by the top guys but if he wins a bout or two, its a great payday down the track.

 

[B ville Famous]

The UFC hasn't been the best vs the best in a long time. Conor wasn't even the start but it became a tipping point for sure

Ngannous exit is an enormous loss

Give me an example of when the best didn’t fight the best in the UFC?

 

[wildchild88]

As a massive Francis fan, it doesn't mean anything for the sport.

I just hope Francis is able to make some big money at the end of the day with PFL or whoever he signs with.

 

[JumJum]

I'm assuming it was along the lines of Izzy's $2-3 million base and a couple bucks per PPV buy, so we're talking about $3-5 million a fight. I highly doubt PFL or Bellator is going to pay him that much and he's unlikely to get that Fury fight, which would probably max him out at $10-$12 million and be his last relevant boxing payday.

But, if he does, good for him. More power to Francis if he is going to bet on himself. Getting to this point considering his past, he's already won, and I'm not going to doubt him. Hopefully it pays off.

Even Whyte didn't made those numbers and there is no way his bullshit fight will make him earning more. I assume he will make around 3m which might be less than he got offered on his UFC contract and than will dissappear to anonymously since he never was that famous athlete to begin with. After that he might understand his stupid mistake

 

[Tweak896]

Either Ngannou gets something from other orgs or boxing that motivates other UFC fighters to jump off or he doesn't and will have the opposite effect where guys won't want to leave the UFC.

 

[Local Plata]

The UFC made their bed by deciding to go full on WWE/Boxing model. They havent operated like a real sport in years.

 

[Izzysexboyfriend]

Ngannou is underpaid in the ufc and moving to boxing was the logical step for him.

Francis isn’t gonna make $50mil in one boxing fight

 

[Tapioca Cold]

He'll get paid a few million to get KtfO'd in boxing. Best of luck Ngannou.

 

[HP_Nut]

Dana being Dana, it would not surprise me if it was something along the lines of:

not a ton of guaranteed money, maybe $1 million guaranteed but if he brought in Brock type PPV numbers, he'd be paid more than Brock. So technically Dana isn't lying, but Dana knows Francis won't bring in Brock numbers (no one in the UFC currently other than Conor can bring those type of numbers, & Conor is semi-retired).

So we might be sitting here thinking Francis turned down 3-5 million but in actuality, Francis was unlikely to hit those numbers.

 

[wwkirk]

Maybe it's a language thing, but not re-signing with a particular organization is no where close to 'quitting'. Not only do people leave the UFC all the time, but I haven't heard Francis say he is retiring from MMA.

This part though seems quite unjust:

Francis proved he doesn't care about other fighters pay because if he did he would fight to create a union or something like that. He only cares about Francis.

There are hardly any fighters out there fighting to create a union. Why should he be singled out? Virtually zero active fighters say anything at all about other fighters' pay. Very unfair to criticize him for something like this.