As Joaquin Buckley stepped onto the stage for the weigh-ins at UFC Atlanta, one would expect all the attention to be on him. But many fans had the spotlight on Francis Ngannou as he stood on the stage to support his friend. It was nothing short of a surprise as ‘The Predator’ had already claimed that he’d never make a return to the UFC. After all, his battle with Dana White and Company, leading to him walking away from the UFC, was pretty ugly. Nicksick, Ngannou’s longtime coach, has suggested the surprise appearance doesn’t necessarily mean a UFC return—Ngannou remains under PFL contract and has shown no concrete path back. Meanwhile, a few others believed that walking away from the UFC was Ngannou’s gravest mistake. But was it really a mistake? 

After moving away from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Ngannou tried his hand in the boxing ring. He fought Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, but lost both of them. Some pundits still argue Ngannou “won” the first Fury fight despite the judges’ decision—mixed reviews of those performances softened his blowout loss to Joshua. On top of that, he faced an emotional blow by losing his 15-month-old son. Finally, he got a contract under the banner of the Professional Fighters League and returned to the MMA cage after a 2-year-long hiatus. He fought Renan Ferreira and impressed the entire world by beating him with ground and pound in the first round. Yet, the question remained unanswered. Did Francis make a mistake leaving the UFC? 

During a recent appearance on The Fighter vs. The Writer, Matt Brown weighed in on the big question. He claimed that moving out of the UFC was definitely not a mistake if we take a look at his thickened wallet. But according to him, the same wasn’t true as far as Ngannou’s legacy was concerned. 

Brown said, “You’d have to define what a mistake is. Because for his pockets, he did not make a mistake. Fighting Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, win or loss, he made a lot of f——money that he was not going to make in the UFC. Legacy wise, he’s already forgotten in terms of the heavyweight division in MMA. Legacy wise, I think it damaged his legacy tremendously. Had he won those boxing matches, that would have obviously helped his legacy a s— ton, right? Like, for instance, after he fought Tyson Fury the first time, and I think a lot of us believed that he won, it was pretty close, debatable. But I would argue he probably won. I don’t think anybody was arguing that it was a bad move at that point.”

Nevertheless, Brown was stern regarding Ngannou’s defeats in the squared rings. After all, he claimed that Ngannou’s legacy suffered in exchange for a heavier pocket. He continued, “Now everybody is asking if it was a mistake. But he made more money in those two matches that he would have made fighting in the UFC for the next 10 years. Was it a mistake on that part? No, but his legacy is going to suffer. He’s not going to be in the talks for the best heavyweight ever, period.” 

Soon after the podcast episode went live, MMA Fighting shared the clip on Instagram. And it instantly garnered attention from the fighting community. They swooped in and defended the former UFC heavyweight champion’s legacy in the comments section. Let’s see what the fans had to say. 

Fight fans refuse to accept Matt Brown’s judgment and lift Francis Ngannou’s legacy up high

Of course, the kind of money Ngannou made was commendable. And many fans believed that quitting his role in the UFC was the best decision he could ever make. One fan wrote, “Bro made $20 million minimum. Best decision he could have made.” Another fan commended the Cameroonian’s decision and wrote, “Francis was the only Smart fighter with a character in the UFC. The rest can keep on fighting for a penny compared to what ufc makes.” One more fan added, “Who cares about the UFC and legacy it means nothing he made 30-40M boxing. He’s a prize fighter and got the biggest prize. He won at life.”

Most of the fans claimed that Ngannou had already cemented his legacy as a heavyweight champion. Their claims were based on the fact that he never refused to fight anyone. One fan commented, “His legacy is he fought every man who ever tried to get between him and his money, and that includes Dana. Maybe he didn’t physically fight him but he took that fight, and won that too.” Another fan pointed at Ngannou becoming a champion in two different promotions. The comment read, “Won title, defended it twice, won the PFL title, got to get paid silly money boxing twice…that’s a great legacy. Matt Brown smoking something with all these takes.”

Meanwhile, a few others lifted ‘The Predator’ up high as the lineal heavyweight champion. One of the fans wrote, “He’s the lineal UFC heavyweight champ.” Another fan reflected on Ngannou’s battle against Fury. It was a fight where Tyson Fury was dropped down, even if he wasn’t defeated. The comment went like, “And he dropped Tyson Fury. The Lineal HW champ.”

What are your thoughts on Brown’s verdict regarding Ngannou’s legacy? Do you think ‘The Predator’ made a mistake by walking out of the UFC? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.