Home

UFC

Why Did Francis Ngannou’s UFC Contract End? Heavyweight Explains Exit and PFL Move to Joe Rogan

Published 09/23/2023, 3:48 AM EDT

Follow Us

via Imago

The noted former UFC Heavyweight champ, Francis Ngannou, is known for his heavy strikes. But he opted to use his prowess in wrestling to defeat the former Interim UFC Heavyweight champ, Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. However, most fans didn’t have the slightest idea that this fight was going to be Ngannou’s final one in the UFC. Post this fight, ‘The Predator’ went on almost a year-long hiatus but never returned to the Octagon.

Recently, the Cameroonian also made his way into the UFC color commentator, Joe Rogan’s coveted podcast, and detailed the primary reasons behind his exit. Most fans might already know how Ngannou blamed the “dirty game” of the UFC that led to his exit. However, this time he went into a bit more detail, revealing the point where disagreements between him and the UFC started to crop up.

Francis Ngannou reveals the beginning of his disagreements with the UFC

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

A lot of ‘Joe Rogan Experience’ fans love the show due to Rogan’s inquisitive nature about things. In the latest ‘JRE’ episode, Rogan asked Ngannou, “So what was the holdup with the UFC? Like what led you to not sign?” A large chunk of fans might already know the primary reason behind Ngannou’s departure from the UFC.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest UFC stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

However, here he chose to detail the point from where things started to get sour between him and the UFC. The Predator said, There was a lot of frustration after my fight against Stipe, my first fight against Stipe. My relation with the UFC has never been the same.”

He further revealed that he wanted a change in his contract post his fight against Junior dos Santos on 29 June 2019. But the UFC CEO, Dana White, denied him since he had three more fights left in his current contract.

Well, this might have been the first nail in the coffin of the Ngannou-UFC relations. Although Dana White wanted to negotiate another contract with Ngannou, he was too reluctant to oblige to Ngannou’s other demands except money. Records say that Ngannou stepped out of the company just after 3 more fights.

The PFL offered Ngannou a much better contract with his desired liberty

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Ngannou’s exit from the UFC had a number of noted global MMA promotions vying to get him signed. However, it was the noted American promotion, PFL, that finally managed to secure his signature. Reportedly, PFL agreed to pay him a baseline salary of $2M per fight and also ensured that his opponents get a good baseline salary. They also made him the face of their project to promote themselves in Africa.

via Imago

However, an exemption to go for boxing matches was a point that Ngannou eagerly wanted in his contract. Well, the PFL authorities also obliged to this wish of ‘The Predator’. As a part of this exemption, he is all set to face the famous current WBC Heavyweight champ, Tyson ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury in a boxing ring on 24 October this year.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Watch this Story – Heated Moments From Tyson Fury And Francis Ngannou’s First Press Conference

Who do you think will come out victorious? Also, do you support Ngannou’s reasons for departing from the UFC?

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Souvik Roy

1,315Articles

One take at a time

Souvik Roy is an exceptional UFC writer with an impressive portfolio of over 500 articles at EssentiallySports. The young writer did not allow speech impairment to come in the way of his love for writing and covering fights. As a keen observer, Souvik's passion for MMA was sparked when he discovered the UFC after being introduced to WWE.
Show More>

Edited by:

Yeswanth Praveen