Can the UFC hire Ngannou for a single megafight without signing him?

[Lord Pyjamas]

At gunpoint maybe.

 

[Dorkman]

Why did they allow Chuck to fight in pride?

UFC wasn't the big fish in the industry world wide at the time. So to Dana it was worth the risk even though it didn't work out. The world heralded Wanderlei as the gold standard. Dana thought his guy could beat him, and possibly bring some of that thunder and intrigue back to his struggling promotion. The UFC wasn't far off from folding before TUF took off.

 

[Luckyme]

Why did they have the Pride crossover with Chuck Lidell back in the day if that's true?

That was way back in the day before MMA was mainstream and Pride rivaled them in popularity. Similar reason why Conor was allowed to box but not Ngannou.

Now that the UFC dominates the MMA scene, there is no point in cross promotion events which only serve to boost smaller organizations.

 

[Pechan]

That would set a precedent so they would never do it.

Honestly the fact that they and the WWE can push that "independent contractor" bullshit without the government calling them out is pretty surprising, doubt they would push it on the modern era by actually hiring a real independent contractor.

 

[xhaydenx]

Why did they allow Chuck to fight in pride?

For the same reason PFL and lesser orgs would love to co-promote with the UFC right now. If your rival is happy to let you send your product over to them and potentially beat yours, then why wouldn't you jump at the chance?

UFC hadn't done that many events back then. They weren't the power house they are these days. If Pride was around now there is zero chance they'd let any of their talent go and fight there.

They won't even consider it with PFL. The UFC makes so much more money than PFL. They don't need to be in bed with them for any reason at this point.

If the UFC co-promotes with another org, it isn't going to benefit the UFC. It'll only benefit the other org. The UFC aren't going to do that lol.