Media Francis Ngannou vs Anthony Joshua in Africa? Why Didn't UFC Pull the Trigger?

[Siver!]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/67303165

"The MMA world believe Ngannou beats everyone," Hearn told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"When I met Ngannou he was trying to pitch me AJ against Ngannou in Africa. I spoke to AJ about it at the time and he said 'I want to try to win the world heavyweight championship now'.

"I said 'this guy was close to beating Tyson Fury so he surely has to be a credible fight'. The MMA world are telling me Ngannou beats AJ easily. I'm like 'please make the fight because that's not the case'."

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Eddie Hearn has been talking about the possibility of Francis vs AJ in Africa, which begs the question: why did we never get UFC Africa?

The boxing world is going NUTS over Francis, so I think if it happens, the chances are PFL make the move first - which is unthinkable when you consider UFC had Francis, Kamaru, AND Izzy.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

 

[Gabe]

Perry left before they could make any significant headway.

 

[svmr_db]

Dana has spoken against how suitable the facilities in Africa are for a UFC event, maybe they only have the technology to broadcast the event in 360p worldwide.

 

[Siver!]

Dana has spoken against how suitable the facilities in Africa are for a UFC event, maybe they only have the technology to broadcast the event in 360p worldwide.

To be fair, Hearn asks whether African nations have the finances to pull it off, which sort of implies part of the cost will be investment in just making it happen in the first place.

Still... what an opportunity!

 

[Flower2dPeople]

Africans don't want to go back to Africa.

 

[usernamee]

Dana has spoken against how suitable the facilities in Africa are for a UFC event, maybe they only have the technology to broadcast the event in 360p worldwide.

just get the boy who harnessed the wind on the horn and have him cook something up

 

[TempleoftheDog]

You have to remember that Ngannou was only the champion for one fight. And to guarantee success for an African card. It would have been better to have at least 2 of the 3 African born champions on the card. All 3 would have been the best.

Ngannou was not a draw in the UFC. If an Ngannou fight was the only title fight on the card. Taking a card to Africa to hopefully sell 400K ppv doesn’t make a lot of sense. Nobody gave a shit about Ngannou until after the Fury fight.

You can’t just wake up one day and say.. Let’s go to Africa. There are a LOT of logistical hurdles for a card like that.

Any new country/state, etc the UFC goes to has it’s individual issues. Look how long it took to finally get a card in NYC. China, Russia, France, etc. There are several countries in Europe the UFC has never been to.

And there’s probably only a cpl countries in Africa the UFC would probably want to go to for the first UFC card on that continent.

 

[Siver!]

You have to remember that Ngannou was only the champion for one fight. And to guarantee success for an African card. It would have been better to have at least 2 of the 3 African born champions on the card. All 3 would have been the best.

Ngannou was not a draw in the UFC. If an Ngannou fight was the only title fight on the card. Taking a card to Africa to hopefully sell 400K ppv doesn’t make a lot of sense. Nobody gave a shit about Ngannou until after the Fury fight.

You can’t just wake up one day and say.. Let’s go to Africa. There are a LOT of logistical hurdles for a card like that.

Any new country/state, etc the UFC goes to has it’s individual issues. Look how long it took to finally get a card in NYC. China, Russia, France, etc. There are several countries in Europe the UFC has never been to.

And there’s probably only a cpl countries in Africa the UFC would probably want to go to for the first UFC card on that continent.

All true.

I think Dana said Senegal was the country of preference, but it was a while ago and I might be wrong.

 

[Poirierfan]

You have to remember that Ngannou was only the champion for one fight. And to guarantee success for an African card. It would have been better to have at least 2 of the 3 African born champions on the card. All 3 would have been the best

Ngannou was not a draw in the UFC. If an Ngannou fight was the only title fight on the card. Taking a card to Africa to hopefully sell 400K ppv doesn’t make a lot of sense. Nobody gave a shit about Ngannou until after the Fury fight.

You can’t just wake up one day and say.. Let’s go to Africa. There are a LOT of logistical hurdles for a card like that.

Any new country/state, etc the UFC goes to has it’s individual issues. Look how long it took to finally get a card in NYC. China, Russia, France, etc. There are several countries in Europe the UFC has never been to.

And there’s probably only a cpl countries in Africa the UFC would probably want to go to for the first UFC card on that continent.

Brendan Schaub still thinks Africa's a country and I believe him.

 

[markg171]

Anthony Joshua is from England you racist fuck

 

[markg171]

Lol at the promoter wanting the hot big fight and Joshua instead wanting the actual current champions.

Like yeah, Francis almost did beat Fury. So why not just go for Fury who actually won and who's currently seemingly vulnerable? And if Usyk beats him then Joshua has a chance to avenge his losses to him.

 

[Siver!]

Anthony Joshua is from England you racist fuck

Who are you talking to?

I hope that's not aimed at me.

 

[markg171]

Who are you talking to?

I hope that's not aimed at me.

It's was a joke because Joshua is a known black supramacist.

Racism controversies

Joshua was previously criticised for a set of incidents in November 2017. He called heavyweight boxer Eddie Chambers a "disgrace to the superior black race" on Instagram. Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn said the message came from a fake account, but the false claim was debunked when Chambers proved that it had indeed been sent from Joshua's verified account.[245][246][247]

Joshua later appeared to voice support for Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe on Snapchat.[248][249][250] Hearn subsequently stated Joshua has "got a major problem with his social media accounts" and suggested the accounts may have been hacked.[250]

In June 2020, Joshua was accused of racism for his speech at a Black Lives Matter protest in Watford, where he said "show them where it hurts, abstain from spending your money in their shops and economies, and invest in black-owned businesses." This was interpreted by some as a call to boycott white businesses.[251][252] In response, he said the speech was not his own and that he had only read it out on behalf of a friend. He also said, "If you think I'm a racist, go f*** yourself."[253][254]

 

[Siver!]

It's was a joke because Joshua is a known black supramacist.

Racism controversies

Joshua was previously criticised for a set of incidents in November 2017. He called heavyweight boxer Eddie Chambers a "disgrace to the superior black race" on Instagram. Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn said the message came from a fake account, but the false claim was debunked when Chambers proved that it had indeed been sent from Joshua's verified account.[245][246][247]

Joshua later appeared to voice support for Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe on Snapchat.[248][249][250] Hearn subsequently stated Joshua has "got a major problem with his social media accounts" and suggested the accounts may have been hacked.[250]

In June 2020, Joshua was accused of racism for his speech at a Black Lives Matter protest in Watford, where he said "show them where it hurts, abstain from spending your money in their shops and economies, and invest in black-owned businesses." This was interpreted by some as a call to boycott white businesses.[251][252] In response, he said the speech was not his own and that he had only read it out on behalf of a friend. He also said, "If you think I'm a racist, go f*** yourself."[253][254]

Oh, sorry, dude!