Francis Ngannou earned more in 2 boxing fights than his entire UFC career

[TGArthur]

Francis Ngannou earned $20 million from his fight against Anthony Joshua.
For his fight with Tyson Fury, he earned $10 million, totalling $30 million for two boxing matches.
He made $3.5 million from 14 UFC fights in 7 years.
Francis Ngannou is the real winner

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Also earned more brain damage than his entire UFC career

 

[sonhow]

He already got what he wanted. He wanted to get paid.
If only had taken easier fight than Joshua.

 

[Tweak896]

Next make a thread how Jake Paul is a winner for boxing MMA guys and getting more money than UFC fighters. Honestly MMA fans should like MMA fights, not care about money fights. We could've had Ngannou vs Jones/Aspinall/Pavlovich/others. Instead we got to watch him vs 2 of the top boxers. Don't get it wrong, I'm happy he got success, but as a fan we missed out on great fights.

 

[blaseblase]

He already got what he wanted. He wanted to get paid.
If only had taken easier fight than Joshua.

After that performance against Fury he was only gonna fight Joshua or Wilder.

 

[Barteh]

Next make a thread how Jake Paul is a winner for boxing MMA guys and getting more money than UFC fighters. Honestly MMA fans should like MMA fights, not care about money fights. We could've had Ngannou vs Jones/Aspinall/Pavlovich/others. Instead we got to watch him vs 2 of the top boxers. Don't get it wrong, I'm happy he got success, but as a fan we missed out on great fights.

Maybe if the UFC paid better we'd get better fights in MMA.

 

[jitzmonkey]

Good for him.
Dude's an inspiration. He should be 1-1 as a professional boxer.
That said, looking forward to seeing him fight in a cage again; hopefully against high level competition (which may be difficult since the UFC wasn't willing to pay him.)

 

[Tweak896]

Maybe if the UFC paid better we'd get better fights in MMA.

Maybe if we paid like boxing does, oh wait they still have fights like Usyk/Fury or Joshua/Wilder that they can't put together even with all the money from the middle east. I'm not convinced money just makes it better for fans, but if it does it will be gradual and take decades to get high level athletes attracted to it.

 

[jitzmonkey]

Maybe if the UFC paid better we'd get better fights in MMA.

Boom!

 

[jitzmonkey]

Maybe if we paid like boxing does, oh wait they still have fights like Usyk/Fury or Joshua/Wilder that they can't put together even with all the money from the middle east. I'm not convinced money just makes it better for fans, but if it does it will be gradual and take decades to get high level athletes attracted to it.

Isn't it a different business model, though?

 

[sonhow]

After that performance against Fury he was only gonna fight Joshua or Wilder.

Sure. But in boxing champs fight cans or at least overmatched opposition all the time. Could have milked it bit more.

 

[Corrado Soprano]

Ngannou made a mistake leaving the UFC. No more performance of the night bonuses for 50k and no more Reebok kits.

 

[Tweak896]

Isn't it a different business model, though?

It is, but also shows that simply money involved doesn't get fans everything they want. Boxers are absolutely paid beyond their draw and more than they were in the past, but you'd be hard to find any boxing fans that think it's the best era for boxing right now. We're seeing it now in UFC where top guys are getting more into negotiations than ever before for big matchups. So I think that there is lots to learn from boxing still.

 

[blaseblase]

Sure. But in boxing champs fight cans or at least overmatched opposition all the time. Could have milked it bit more.

He's not a boxer. He's an MMA fighter doing freak show boxing matchups. He was never going to fight a can. After that performance against Fury the only sensible matchup was another top boxer. He wouldn't have gotten 20 million to face the 20th ranked boxer and if he had lost to whoever that is his boxing career would be done.

 

[nostradumbass]

Pretty sure Anthony Joshua is the real winner.

 

[Clark Rogers]

Isn't this like the fourth version of this exact same thread?

 

[jitzmonkey]

It is, but also shows that simply money involved doesn't get fans everything they want. Boxers are absolutely paid beyond their draw and more than they were in the past, but you'd be hard to find any boxing fans that think it's the best era for boxing right now. We're seeing it now in UFC where top guys are getting more into negotiations than ever before for big matchups. So I think that there is lots to learn from boxing still.

That's a valid point.
I imagine that the UFC would've benefitted from paying Ngannou and JBJ to fight each other, though.
Had the potential to be one of the biggest (if not the biggest non-McGregor) fights in the history of the sport.

 

[LEWIS540]

LOL at believing all the $ figures you read.

LOL at believing he made $3.5m in 14 UFC fights.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

I dont doubt that he made more from the boxing matches than his whole UFC career, but the $3.5m figure that always gets cited is almost certainly bullshit.

 

[Tweak896]

That's a valid point.
I imagine that the UFC would've benefitted from paying Ngannou and JBJ to fight each other, though.
Had the potential to be one of the biggest (if not the biggest non-McGregor) fights in the history of the sport.

The question goes deeper though, they would've short term benefitted from the fight but it sounded like Ngannou wanted Jones and then peace out of the UFC into boxing fights. UFC probably didn't want to get their only GOAT that is still fighting KO'd and lose the guy to do it. Ngannou still isn't proven to bring tons of PPV sales either. It sucks as a fan, but Ngannou vs Jones/Aspinall couldn't match the money Ngannou Fury/Joshua in boxing even if we're being optimistic.