News Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua 100% Confirmed by Eddie Hearn, March 8th, Saudi Arabia

[Shaddows]

Mod Update:

While I am a huge Francis fan, I think people are far too eager to put him at a level he not (yet) belong (in Boxing).
Yes, he did far better than almost everyone expected against the Gypsy King, but that is because Fury did not take him that serious.
But now that everyone saw him and know a lot more of what to expect from him(Including watching the tape and find openings in his game)... plus: Fighters will take him much more serious from now on.

Note: I am not saying he will suck. I do believe he is an amazing specimen that can beat anyone in his path, but he is "new" to pure boxing, and only time (and experience) will fix that ...

 

[PeterGriffin]

Yeah man, fuck the UFC for not paying Francis' championship pay if he were to lose his belt and no longer be champion.

Do you retards even listen to yourselves?

There's the pot calling the kettle black.

Dude, we get it. You keep white-knighting Dana, Jones and the UFC, as if they are going to either pay you or blow you. None of them give a shit about you, care what you think, or even know who you are.

The UFC has a long, long standing history of exploiting fighters via ridiculously one-sided contracts. Their figurehead is well-known and documented liar, yet for some reason, you're inclined to see Dana as being the truthful one here when it comes to contract negotiations and an accurate timeline with the way the UFC has (mis)handled Ngannou.

If you really believe that Jones didn't duck Francis, there really is not much point to even responding to your foolishness as you clearly are both blinded and biased.

 

[markg171]

There's the pot calling the kettle black.

Dude, we get it. You keep white-knighting Dana, Jones and the UFC, as if they are going to either pay you or blow you. None of them give a shit about you, care what you think, or even know who you are.

The UFC has a long, long standing history of exploiting fighters via ridiculously one-sided contracts. Their figurehead is well-known and documented liar, yet for some reason, you're inclined to see Dana as being the truthful one here when it comes to contract negotiations and an accurate timeline with the way the UFC has (mis)handled Ngannou.

If you really believe that Jones didn't duck Francis, there really is not much point to even responding to your foolishness as you clearly are both blinded and biased.

Remind me again when Jon was supposed to fight Francis when Jon vacated his belt in August 2020?

Was it :

- when Francis still hadn't won the belt as Stipe was still champion for another 6 months?
- when Francis was refusing to defend his belt so the UFC had to create an interim champ only 3 months into his reign?
- when Francis now had to defend against said interim champion?
- when Francis was injured for an entire year because he destroyed his knee preparing for his interim champ?
- when Francis now no longer had a contract with the UFC and was refusing to re-sign at $8M?

It's you guys with the revisionist history. March 2023 was when they actually could've fought and had been the date they were planning to since fall 2022 while Francis was still recovering. Jon showed up that night, Francis didn't. It is what it is, but stop with the nonsense that they could've magically fought earlier.

Btw... if you can't see that there's a very obvious reason besides money why Francis is refusing to fight again in MMA and only boxing you should probably go back to point #4. It's not a coincidence that he doesn't want to return to MMA since his major knee injuries.

 

[MMAALLDAYBAYBAY]

Wonder how Chael will spin this into a negative. Franc could KO Joshua in the first and Chael would still be in shill overdrive.

Uncle Chael's shilling has become quite insufferable in regards to Francis.

 

[JKS]

It absolutely was the UFC's fault for low-balling Francis in terms of pay. The UFC could have paid him more, they chose not to. The UFC could have made concessions allowing him to participate in boxing, they chose not to. He was under contract at the time, so the balance of power was entirely under the UFC's control.

Francis was trying regain his freedom, and he was 100% right in doing so. He wanted to get out of incredibly restrictive contract and did what he felt was necessary. And despite whatever Daddy Dana says, or the UFC shills pretend, Ngannou did the right thing by walking away from the UFC. To be honest, more fighters should follow his lead.

Look at Nate Diaz. Same fucking story. The UFC repeatedly stone-walled him and did everything they could to make him sign a new contract before he got the final fight on his old contract fulfilled. A move which seems to be the status quo on the UFC's part. Keep the fighter locked in while they are disadvantaged and at the UFC's mercy.

I still think fighters should only ever sign 1 fight contracts at a time, and fight wherever they please or for whatever organization wants to pay them. Obviously, not something the UFC would like, but I support the fighters getting paid. A person choosing to fight as a career will inevitably always lose to father time, and that fight comes later in life if they are lucky. It only takes one bad injury to end it all.

It's like Conor said... "Get in, get rich, and get out".

I am surprised the UFC didn't demand a portion of Ngannou's F9 salary.

The UFC never low balled Francis, they offered him very good pay for his contract. Francis was offered 8 mill for the Jones fight which is more than any current UFC fighter aside Conor. He even said he lost 15 mill by not signing the prior deals. The problem was Francis would be locked into a longer term contract that would likely keep him in the UFC for remainder of his career. His issues is he wanted freedom to box and fight elsewhere.

But that's the not the UFC's problem and it's not what the UFC does. They have no business and no reason to let Francis box cause there is nothing in it for them. Why would they conceed and let him box? They're not a boxing promoter.

Bottom line is Francis did what was best for his career and I've always supported that. He wanted to make bank in boxing and have options to do mma. The UFC is not bad or wrong in their offer to Francis, they did what was in their best interest as a promoter. Francis wanted something differeent and the two sides couldn't come to an agreement. No one is wrong here, it just didn't work out. Just like the UFC and Fedor, the deal just wasn't fight for either party in both cases.

About your point regarding fighter signing one fight deals?? That is doesn't actually favor the fighters at all. The UFC signs fighters to longer term contracts and invests into fighters. They key in that is promoting and building them up. You want fighters to get paid? Well this is the best way to do it, epecially for younger and more emerging fighters. The UFC is the biggest promoter in the world of mma and the reason these guys would get paid in other promotions is because they build a name in the UFC. And the same goes for fighters building their names in Bellator or KSW. No promoter will want to deal in one fight deals. Promotions want longer term invetments. It just doesn't work like that. There is no benefit to the promoter and for the fighters it's way too risky.

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

I'll take Joshua by tko. What Francis did vs Fury was very impressive but I think Fury slept on him and fought dumb. Josh also has very serious KO power, is technical, and better conditioning imo

 

[ComfortablyNumb55]

If AJ actually tries, he'll batter him.

But another big payday is all that matters.

 

[Gamboal]

I'll take Joshua by tko. What Francis did vs Fury was very impressive but I think Fury slept on him and fought dumb. Josh also has very serious KO power, is technical, and better conditioning imo

No it's because Fury is overrated. This past year we have seen how shit two of his most high profile wins are: Wallin destroyed easily by AJ while Fury went life and death with him; Wilder received a one-sided thrashing by mediocre Joe Parker. Wilder is as bad as everyone suspected. Fury's wins over him are massively overrated.

 

[HatKick]

Time to put some hespect on AJ's name. He's been clowned more than any other HW since his loss to Ruiz. Even when he KO's his opponents he still gets dragged through the mud. But he's the only one embracing these hard fights. First Usyk and now Ngannou.

Fury only fought Ngannou because he thought it would be easy. Wilder only fought Fury because he thought Fury was done. AJ is deliberately taking on tough challenges.

 

[kahymo]

this is amazing,
4 months and a week after fighting Tyson Fury

quick turnover for both guys

so we may have Francis in an mma match by June/Jully against Werdum

 

[Tyler Durden]

Maybe saved Frank's life. It was going to be 4 Oz gloves and Wilder is one of great Power punchers ever even at his age

? He meant with missing out on the fight with AJ.
Francis is NOT the money fight. Francis will still be the B-side/freakshow of this match up.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Please explain as to how this is a loss to Dana?

 

[Oldman1]

Remind me again when Jon was supposed to fight Francis when Jon vacated his belt in August 2020?

Was it :

- when Francis still hadn't won the belt as Stipe was still champion for another 6 months?
- when Francis was refusing to defend his belt so the UFC had to create an interim champ only 3 months into his reign?
- when Francis now had to defend against said interim champion?
- when Francis was injured for an entire year because he destroyed his knee preparing for his interim champ?
- when Francis now no longer had a contract with the UFC and was refusing to re-sign at $8M?

It's you guys with the revisionist history. March 2023 was when they actually could've fought and had been the date they were planning to since fall 2022 while Francis was still recovering. Jon showed up that night, Francis didn't. It is what it is, but stop with the nonsense that they could've magically fought earlier.

Btw... if you can't see that there's a very obvious reason besides money why Francis is refusing to fight again in MMA and only boxing you should probably go back to point #4. It's not a coincidence that he doesn't want to return to MMA since his major knee injuries.

Go take a walk Dana

 

[nostradumbass]

Francis' sunset clause expired in January 2023, and the Fury fight was announced in July. So, it looks like it took 6 months or so, for negotiations, meaning, we could possibly have had the Fury fight announced July 2022 (6 months after UFC 270) if the UFC would have allowed for it.
Yes, it would have held up the division a bit, but not anymore than it is right now. And the UFC would have made money on the fight, and big PPV numbers when Francis came back, especially with him potentially fighting Jones. The UFC undoubtedly lost money with how they handled this, and, in addition, it may inspire other fighters down the road to leave the UFC and try to replicate Francis' success.

It doesn't matter whether the event promoters lost money, or not, as the UFC wouldn't have been promoting the event. What matters is that Francis made money, more than he did in his entire UFC career, which the UFC could have taken a percentage of, as they did with Conor, and still made yet more money on Francis when he returned. But the way they handled the situation caused the loss of potentially the most anticipated heavyweight MMA fight of the current generation. To try and say this was anything but a bad move by the UFC is just willfully ignoring reality.

Well no, Francis was still injured and wasn't available to fight in 2022. Again, he didn't have anything to negotiate, which is why he was meeting with bellator, bkfc, and PFL while Fury was negotiating with Usyk, and the first 2 said he wanted too much money and they couldn't sign him without losing money, while PFL did sign him and didn't get 1 fight out of him. He didn't have a fight with Fury, and only got it several months after signing with PFL, over half a year after his sunset clause ended, because negotiations with Usyk were at a stand still and he wanted to pressure him into taking a smaller cut by signing another fight.

The UFC did spend money to co promote McGregor/Mayweather, and it was worth it for them because the event revenue was like $360 million for ppvs and another $60 million for ticket sales, while Fury/Ngannou was like $850,000 in ppvs, and probably lost money on ticket sales after comp tickets and paying celebrities to be there, and were on the hook for probably $70 million in fighter purses. They needed almost a million ppv buys just to break even on fighter purses, and landed just a little shy of that with 10,000 lol. It also was about 2 years for Conor to come back to the UFC, and now he hardly ever fights and loses when he does.

But let's just pretend what you say is true and go through how much money you think the UFC lost by not meeting Francis' demands. They already contractually couldn't do it because they have exclusive sponsors for events that they can't just tear up, but putting that aside, his coach said he wanted the $8 million to fight Jones, but didn't want to risk losing to Jones if he wasn't guaranteed to continue making $8 million as an undercard fighter. So whatever amount you think the Jones fight would have made after paying them both $8 million +PPV points, they would then go back to losing money on his subsequent fights by paying an undercard non champ who isn't a big draw $8 million, plus paying millions more for whoever is the main event on those cards.

So that's putting the HW division on hold for 2 years to maybe make back $2-3 million on a fight that was unlikely to happen at all, and if he wins, Fury certainly would have had a rematch clause, and if he gets blown out and comes back and gets choked by Jones, they now have an additional $16 million liability for an undercard fighter who isn't much of a draw, which would again put them in the red just for keeping him on the roster.

 

[joeson]

Considering that Francis is pretty much a boxer now with no MMA on the horizon, I don't know what you are laughing about

Your best HW left MMA to box & Ngannou vs Jones will never happen while Fury vs Usyk will

When Samarat Payakaroon, Khaosai Galaxy left Muay Thai behind to box, it just added to the boxing talent pool

Francis just showed once again that if you want real money, stardom, & freedom then go to boxing if you have any modicum of talent for it

What’s going to happen in the Ngannou vs AJ fight?

 

[Thesnake101]

While I am a huge Francis fan, I think people are far too eager to put him at a level he not (yet) belong (in Boxing).
Yes, he did far more than many expected against the Gypsy King, but that is because Fury did not take him that serious and because everyone expected him to lose....badly.
But now that everyone saw him and know a lot more what to expect from him.(Fighters will also take him more seriously)

Note: I am not saying he will suck. I do believe he is an amazing specimen that can beat anyone in his path, but he is "new" to pure boxing, and only time (and experience) will fix that ...

He doesn't have time though, he's already 37, and turning 38 later this year. On top of that he'll probably have to fight under PFL eventually, which also cuts his time window for boxing short.

He's got to strike while the iron is hot, even if the results won't be the best for him.

Had he never set foot in MMA then things could've been different, but a proper boxing career was never a realistic goal the moment he fought in the UFC prelims. He's making the best he can now.

 

[Shaddows]

He doesn't have time though, he's already 37, and turning 38 later this year. On top of that he'll probably have to fight under PFL eventually, which also cuts his time window for boxing short.

He's got to strike while the iron is hot, even if the results won't be the best for him.

Had he never set foot in MMA then things could've been different, but a proper boxing career was never a realistic goal the moment he fought in the UFC prelims. He's making the best he can now.

Oh, I agree 100% with you on that.
Well.. then again... if he wins, a rematch with the Gypsy King (for the belt) would probably be on the cards...
I mean, we've seen enough fights to know that anything can happen in a fight.
And man, if he gets the belt, I'd say this would quite a blow to Boxing..... and Dana will be conflicted as fuck! (He loves Boxing, but would not be happy to see Francis's success....

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

No it's because Fury is overrated. This past year we have seen how shit two of his most high profile wins are: Wallin destroyed easily by AJ while Fury went life and death with him; Wilder received a one-sided thrashing by mediocre Joe Parker. Wilder is as bad as everyone suspected. Fury's wins over him are massively overrated.

I disagree with the extremity of the claim but not the core. Fury does get hyped up BUT he is genuinely very good. He is just inconsistent. Some days he dominates and others be barely scrapes by.

 

[fandangler101]

No reputable boxing source is reporting this, at this point.

And Helwani has been comically wrong before.

You look pretty dumb right now

 

[Sean Ryan]

Francis is going to get besmirched here. Joshua won't take him lightly and will bust his ass to be prepared. All the props in the world to Francis, however. He continues to prove all his naysayers wrong, and it shouldn't shock a single soul considering where he came from and all the hardships he's had to endure. I'm rooting for him and hope he proves me wrong in this fight.

Joshua has looked extremely tentative since his loss to Ruiz. I still expect him to win given his pedigree but he could certainly get cracked.