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

[true_fan]

If karma gets Dana and the rest of the greedy bastards Francis and others would have stayed

 

[IDGETKTFO]

I can't wait to see a Boxer sleep his ass. You can insert X boxer, he will get slept. Fury, Wilder, Anthony Joshua. ect...ect. Ngannou will get killed by them all.

 

[Coconutwater]

I can't wait to see a Boxer sleep his ass. You can insert X boxer, he will get slept. Fury, Wilder, Anthony Joshua. ect...ect. Ngannou will get killed by them all.

Does anyone actually think Francis can beat a legit boxer?

 

[MT5]

Has anyone reasonably big left the UFC and had a reasonably long career, doing consistently better monetarily, elsewhere? At the end of the day you're just hoping for a big freak fight payday, right?

 

[PhotographyRaptor]

My guess is, he was offered 1 mil + some extras.

8 fight contract, so they wont have to deal with him ever again, lol.

More like 3 mil plus points. Frank is just a weirdo wannabe youngster

 

[koquerelle]

He thought he could get more. He was wrong, lol.

I get that, but what happened to cause such a fall?

 

[torturescorcher]

The UFC would want him back as much as he would want to come back. The only reason they let Ngannou go was because Dana can't think straight after being slapped around the head too many times by his wife!!!! Yikes! lol.

 

[Plissken]

He's been out so long that his star has already diminished a bit (this news was the first time people have really shown much interest in a while). It doesn't help that he laid on top of Gane for most of that fight and that's everyone's last memory of him. Unless he gets a big fight soon his star will keep fading, and there aren't really any heavyweight stars outside the UFC in MMA save for some guys on the edge of retirement or already retired that used to fight there, and Fedor who likely does not want Frankie for his last ever fight. Bader and Vassell are the highest ranked guys outside the UFC (aside from Francis himself) and both are blown up light heavyweights. The top boxing guys are more worried about their legacy there with names that mean more in that sport than Francis' right now. His best bet would have been a freak show fight against Wilder after the third Fury fight but now Wilder has some confidence back after his last win so I don't know if he'd want to waste one of the maybe two fights he gets to have in a year against Francis, Ruiz as well just had a big win so I doubt he'd want the freakshow fight right now either, so Francis would likely have to wait until the fourth quarter of the year to have a potential boxing fight against a real name and that's just more time away from the spotlight.

Francis seems like a good person, and I get wanting to make that extra money like Conor did with a big boxing match, but Floyd was pretty much retired when he took that fight and Conor was a much bigger star than Francis is so things worked out. If Conor made his rise today you wouldn't see someone like Canelo fight him as he's still fighting for his legacy in boxing in the prime of his career and making a ton of money already.
Francis' best bet would be a fight with a retired heavyweight, it may diminish his star more losing to a retired fighter compared to an active one but he'll most likely lose either way. I think Dana knew Francis would likely get slaughtered in a boxing match which is why he didn't want to give Francis the option of a boxing match as it would make his top heavyweight (known mainly for his punches) and so that entire division and the UFC itself look bad.

Obligatory...

 

[Eiger]

I'm starting to think that a large portion (majority?) of the fan base just want to see the fights they want to see, with no consideration of the fighter's point of view.

This is exactly how I see it. Majority of fans don't care too much about a lot of things that a very vocal minority insist everyone should care about deeply. Constantly. Average joe has enough on his own plate to deal with and can't be bothered to care about.

There are things fans care about much more. Like the fact that it costs $1000usd annually for American fans to watch all PPVs legally. But this stuff is rarely addressed and gets little attention. There's are reason for this, but I digress..

 

[piropiro]

Chael for once not hyper dramatizing everything and making perfect sense on the matter of what next for Francis.

 

[Chayanne]

Ufc is like, gladiators arena and fighters dont have freedom, fight for the boss en stay a slave. Ngannu is fighting for freedom like maximus did, a hero

 

[weaselkenievil]

This thread is so stupid, I thought that general consensus was that UFC exploits fighters and the majority of people support fighters that stand up to that ? Yet a quick read here and you'd believe half of the posters work for Dana, you all shilling for UFC hard

It’s the same every damn thread. These people can’t be MMA fans, paid shills or…? Fans of corporate giants making money? I don’t get it at all. Dana has fans ffs. No other sport I follow does anyone care who the big cheese is or supports them. Shit is weird.

 

[lsa]

Ufc is like, gladiators arena and fighters dont have freedom, fight for the boss en stay a slave. Ngannu is fighting for freedom like maximus did, a hero

Except the gladiators are getting paid in some cases millions and fights to get paid even more.
No he is not fighting for freedom he is fighting to get paid.Its always (in the end) about money.
Not there is anything wrong with that.

 

[Zarathustra611]

If he goes after anyone out of the top 4, he'd probably been better off with the UFC contract he was offered if it's as lucrative as it's been made out to be. He isn't going to make crazy money off any other fights and if he can't even win his first fight against lower ranked guys like Chisora, nobody is going to want to see the next, assuming he doesn't stink the joint up either. I don't think he has the cardio to make any fight worth mentioning competitive so I don't see him risking it fighting against anyone outside of AJ, Wilder or Fury. He's desperately prostituting himself for one big paycheck but I do hope Wilder cashes him in so everyone can see him get KTFO

You're going to need to define "prostituting yourself for a paycheck" from anything else fighters do, in order for you to retain any sense of objective credibility here. Please explain.

If you just hope Francis fails= fine. You don't need to be a fan.

Francis didn't like the UFC contract. He believes he has other avenues to make more/as much. I think he's right. There are zeroes more on the end of boxing contracts, big and small. It's why Jake Paul gets up UFC noses and UFC ex stars line up to get humiliated. It's just a bigger prize pool and it's prize fighting in boxing, not contract leftovers.

If Francis wants to bet on himself making some millions and taking down a mid tier heavyweight- I'd pay to watch it. If he fails, he can go fight Pride etc and he's no worse off, he still has his boxing payday. If he succeeds- great, the big bucks await. Or he can clean up in the freakshow fights for no risk.

Dana pretending the UFC is the only avenue to make money and lowballing the fighters is the issue here- repeatedly. UFC is fun, I watch it. But I'm not personally offended if fighters realise they can make more & easier (even if just on the knees) money elsewhere.

 

[piropiro]

It’s the same every damn thread. These people can’t be MMA fans, paid shills or…? Fans of corporate giants making money? I don’t get it at all. Dana has fans ffs. No other sport I follow does anyone care who the big cheese is or supports them. Shit is weird.

Actually most people here seem to be absolutely pro Francis, exactly why they reflect on the scenario that passing up on the Jones mega fight and a number of guarateed millions in the UFC, to pursue absolutely imaginary bigger purses elsewhere, it’s likely a big mistake, in his case.

The UFC is by no means faultless … they had the “baddest man on the planet” who also happens to look the part, have a very likable personality and perhaps the greatest backstory in UFC history (probably one of the best in all modern sports history) … they were abysmal at marketing him and couldn’t offer a sufficiently enticing contract.

But nonetheless in this case Francis seems to have made the far more costly negotiation mistake(s) unfortunately.

 

[Zarathustra611]

This. He has a lot of options in boxing even if he loses vs Fury and Wilder. He can take a step down in competition and still get paid millions. People think Fury is the only boxer getting paid millions. It really shows how little the mma community knows about boxing.

Wilder kills Ngannou in about 2 rounds tops if he really wants to. It'd be fun, Francis could get his 5 mill and retire. But he might make more building up to it.

But I outlined half a dozen more sensible, multi million dollar fights already but UFC fans don't seem ready to receive that. There's another half a dozen fights I'm sure I didn't think of with my Oz/Brit bias.

 

[piropiro]

You're going to need to define "prostituting yourself for a paycheck" from anything else fighters do, in order for you to retain any sense of objective credibility here. Please explain.

If you just hope Francis fails= fine. You don't need to be a fan.

Francis didn't like the UFC contract. He believes he has other avenues to make more/as much. I think he's right. There are zeroes more on the end of boxing contracts, big and small. It's why Jake Paul gets up UFC noses and UFC ex stars line up to get humiliated. It's just a bigger prize pool and it's prize fighting in boxing, not contract leftovers.

If Francis wants to bet on himself making some millions and taking down a mid tier heavyweight- I'd pay to watch it. If he fails, he can go fight Pride etc and he's no worse off, he still has his boxing payday. If he succeeds- great, the big bucks await. Or he can clean up in the freakshow fights for no risk.

Dana pretending the UFC is the only avenue to make money and lowballing the fighters is the issue here- repeatedly. UFC is fun, I watch it. But I'm not personally offended if fighters realise they can make more & easier (even if just on the knees) money elsewhere.

Do you really think the Jake purses have anything to do with the - false - idea that there are “zeroes more on the end of boxing contracts, big and small”???

Let me give you an extreme example … if tomorrow Ronaldo announced his debut in boxing (against anyone let alone a known pro fighter from any sport), it would make Floyd’s entire career earnings in one bout, smash all PPV records in history and be the biggest combat sports event ever.

Would it be in any way a reflection of boxing’s popularity and the size of normal boxing purses?

You get my point…

Fury’s last opponent got 4m IIRC, already a big purse by boxing standards if you are not called Fury, Usyk, AJ, Wilder, Canelo and a handful of other stars.

 

[Substance Abuse]

I get that, but what happened to cause such a fall?

Too many other free agent point guards and a good rookie class took up all the starter jobs. The Lakers also ended up trading for a better player at his position.

 

[weaselkenievil]

Actually most people here seem to be absolutely pro Francis, exactly why they reflect on the scenario that passing up on the Jones mega fight and a number of guarateed millions in the UFC, to pursue absolutely imaginary bigger purses elsewhere, it’s likely a big mistake, in his case.

The UFC is by no means faultless … they had the “baddest man on the planet” who also happens to look the part, have a very likable personality and perhaps the greatest backstory in UFC history (probably one of the best in all modern sports history) … they were abysmal at marketing him and couldn’t offer a sufficiently enticing contract.

But nonetheless in this case Francis seems to have made the far more costly negotiation mistake(s) unfortunately.

I'm not talking about the people pro Francis, I'm talking about the people pro UFC. For the record I agree, I really can't see what big money offer he could have elsewhere.

 

[flairleguccijoints]

He’s been offered millions per fight (how many it’s unclear but definitely over 3 given that Lesnar’s last fight was 2.5 and it was stated “way more than Lesnar”) in the organization where he is a relative draw and PPVs are a meaningful number.

He refused, to go fight imaginary boxing matches for imaginary huge purses, which likely will (A) not happen at all, or (B) happen once - without a huge purse - and totally ruin his stock and health due to a one sided beat down.

Other MMA organizations won’t be able to match the UFC offer nor create any meaningful PPVs opportunities. Maybe ONE has the money, maybe, but I doubt they’ll invest so much on one guy who is not a huge mainstream draw, especially out of the UFC,

IMO he has completely messed up his career and now that JJ vs CG has been announced he also has far less leverage if he tries to backtrack and sign with the UFC.

His managers and advisers are incompetent.

PS: I’m an absolute fan, from his incredible life story to his fights and general demeanor/personality … so I’m rather “sad” to see him potentially end up far less successful then he could have been. The Fury fight is a real longshot in my opinion, I hope to be wrong.

Yeah he should have signed the imaginary one line contract you reviewed, along with the other data used to negotiate the numbers /s.
How do you know Brock at 2.5 million was sufficient? Give us a breakdown of that negotiation since you cited it and why it was a good deal. If you can’t than this is all BS.
What other number do you know besides “over $3 million” or whatever you took from Dana? Number of fights? PPV points? Percentages? Right you know none of this but tell us he should have agreed.
Never change Sherdumb!