Francis Ngannou is preparing for his next combat sports venture. He will take on WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, he has not competed in an MMA fight since early 2022. Here, we will take a look at the MMA career of Ngannou to see if he has actually retired from the sport now.

‘The Predator’ was on top of the world as the UFC champion in 2021. Earlier this year, he got into talks with the UFC regarding a contract extension. However, that negotiation fell off, and Francis Ngannou eventually exited the promotion. Let’s take a deeper look at that incident.

Francis Ngannou left the UFC early in 2023

The Cameroonian-French fighter was one of the biggest draws in the UFC during his stint in the promotion. Given that popularity surged after some impressive performances, Dana White‘s promotion decided to extend his contract. However, both parties had different ideas when it came to the terms of the contract, and they could not find a common ground. As a result, Ngannou and the UFC decided to part ways.

UFC contracts are often restrictive. Nevertheless, Dana White mentioned later that if Francis Ngannou had accepted the terms of the contract, he’d have made around $8 million. However, that was not what ‘The Predator’ was looking for. He wanted the freedom to venture into other sports, primarily boxing, and even claimed that the contract he was offered was rather one-sided. But the UFC wasn’t too keen on that front. Hence, the ultimate outcome was Ngannou’s departure from the promotion. Not only that, but White also took away the Cameroonian-French fighter’s title.

Dana White stripped ‘The Predator’ of his heavyweight champion status

Francis Ngannou was the heavyweight champion when he started negotiating a contract with Dana White and the UFC. Since they did not arrive at common ground, the UFC CEO (then the president) decided to strip Francis Ngannou of his heavyweight title. He then put it up for grabs at UFC 285 in a fight between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane, which saw ‘Bones’ capture the heavyweight title in his first-ever fight in the division.

Dana White not only stripped Francis Ngannou of the title but also publicly bashed him after his UFC departure. This was the start of Ngannou’s highly public feud with the former UFC champion. However, months later, Ngannou signed a new deal with the rival promotion, the PFL, and he is reportedly going to return to MMA in 2024. This has led the UFC to make attempts to erase ‘The Predator’ from their history.

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Francis Ngannou is already 37 years old. At this age, many MMA fighters contemplate retiring. This is a time when most MMA fighters consider giving up their gloves. But Ngannou has not expressed anything about retiring from the sport that made him famous and is currently focusing on his upcoming boxing match. We will have to wait and see what lies ahead for Ngannou.

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