Did Francis Ngannou Make a Huge Mistake Not Resigning with the UFC?

Did Francis Ngannou make a mistake?

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Dam JJ gonna get that HW strap. HW is so lacking it gonna take a miracle one shot to KO bones and get that belt.
 
Firstly even if you pay him half the amount the UFC offered, that would still probably be a gigantic and unreasonable sum of money for any organisation. And Ngannou is nowhere near some Conor level draw so it is debatable if he is worth it. But even if you think it is worth it, why would you allow Ngannou to box? You would be paying a lot of money for him to fight for you, yet instead he's moonlighting for another sports. If he loses his value tanks, and even worse he almost certainly will get injured boxing which means you need to wait for him to heal up. And the worst part is that if he ends up being a successful boxer then he has zero reasons to ever want to fight MMA again. So why would you agree to such a ridiculous demand from Ngannou?
 
Because it's the only way he will sign with another org and his name alone will make them money. Him having success elsewhere will only boost views for the org as well. For anyone that isn't the UFC this brings in much needed money, that is well worth the risk.
 
piropiro said:
He’s been offered millions per fight (how many it’s unclear but definitely over 3 given that Lesnar’s last fight was 2.5 and it was stated “way more than Lesnar”) in the organization where he is a relative draw and PPVs are a meaningful number.

He refused, to go fight imaginary boxing matches for imaginary huge purses, which likely will (A) not happen at all, or (B) happen once - without a huge purse - and totally ruin his stock and health due to a one sided beat down.

Other MMA organizations won’t be able to match the UFC offer nor create any meaningful PPVs opportunities. Maybe ONE has the money, maybe, but I doubt they’ll invest so much on one guy who is not a huge mainstream draw, especially out of the UFC,

IMO he has completely messed up his career and now that JJ vs CG has been announced he also has far less leverage if he tries to backtrack and sign with the UFC.

His managers and advisers are incompetent.

PS: I’m an absolute fan, from his incredible life story to his fights and general demeanor/personality … so I’m rather “sad” to see him potentially end up far less successful then he could have been. The Fury fight is a real longshot in my opinion, I hope to be wrong.
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Good riddance.

I hope fury Kos him.
 
flairleguccijoints said:
Yeah he should have signed the imaginary one line contract you reviewed, along with the other data used to negotiate the numbers /s.
How do you know Brock at 2.5 million was sufficient? Give us a breakdown of that negotiation since you cited it and why it was a good deal. If you can’t than this is all BS.
What other number do you know besides “over $3 million” or whatever you took from Dana? Number of fights? PPV points? Percentages? Right you know none of this but tell us he should have agreed.
Never change Sherdumb!
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Like in ALL discussions pertaining to anyone that isn’t ourselves, we read whatever information is available and draw the more likely - subjectively of course - conclusions. By your approach unless someone is personally involved in something they should not discuss it … thus close the forum - and all forums - now, because noone is discussing themselves or matters they are directly involved in.

By the way, the Lesnar purse and other details were published by many media outlets from official information … and I actually made a big mistake, I wrote 2.5m but today various media outlets report that Lesnar’s last purse was 2.5m base and 5.5m bonus, so a total of 8m. If we are going to believe that the new contract was making Francis “the highest paid HW in UFC history” then we aren’t talking 3m but over 8m per fight, which would be a huge amount and absolutely non-existent elsewhere.
 
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eh I wanna say yes, IF he really got offered more than Brock, he's an idiot, I am for increasing fighter pay, but they don't deserve nearly as much as NHL, NFL, MLB or NBA players because we only see fighters fight 1-2 times a year for the most part and UFC isn't nearly as big as the 4 I mentioned, Francis was also a bitch for saying o ya I will be an active champ then goes on to hold a belt for a year without fighting, kinda lost respect for that dude, glad he got cut, Jones vs Gane was the right call to make to just get this shit division moving
 
Guy was something special in MMA and I just don’t see it happening in boxing, he’ll just be “another” boxer.

kinda funny tho, In (arguably) the biggest fight of his life, he couldn’t rely on his boxing.
 
piropiro said:
He’s been offered millions per fight (how many it’s unclear but definitely over 3 given that Lesnar’s last fight was 2.5 and it was stated “way more than Lesnar”) in the organization where he is a relative draw and PPVs are a meaningful number.

He refused, to go fight imaginary boxing matches for imaginary huge purses, which likely will (A) not happen at all, or (B) happen once - without a huge purse - and totally ruin his stock and health due to a one sided beat down.

Other MMA organizations won’t be able to match the UFC offer nor create any meaningful PPVs opportunities. Maybe ONE has the money, maybe, but I doubt they’ll invest so much on one guy who is not a huge mainstream draw, especially out of the UFC,

IMO he has completely messed up his career and now that JJ vs CG has been announced he also has far less leverage if he tries to backtrack and sign with the UFC.

His managers and advisers are incompetent.

PS: I’m an absolute fan, from his incredible life story to his fights and general demeanor/personality … so I’m rather “sad” to see him potentially end up far less successful then he could have been. The Fury fight is a real longshot in my opinion, I hope to be wrong.
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Francis is sticking the UFC's plan to wait until Jon has the title (after the check clears for Gane's "take a dive" money) and can get a massive payday
 
MMA said:
It's sort of like what's happening in golf.

If you wanna make more money, bully for you! But you sure as hell aren't going to be a legend in the sport fighting outside the UFC.

Cash your check, but the sport will move on, and you'll be forgotten. If it was me, I'd stay in the UFC.
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you're going to be forgotten about regardless in the end which is why they always need to do what is best for them in the long run. Conor is the only UFC fighter that has managed to turn into a brand.
 
piropiro said:
Do you really think the Jake purses have anything to do with the - false - idea that there are “zeroes more on the end of boxing contracts, big and small”???

Let me give you an extreme example … if tomorrow Ronaldo announced his debut in boxing (against anyone let alone a known pro fighter from any sport), it would make Floyd’s entire career earnings in one bout, smash all PPV records in history and be the biggest combat sports event ever.

Would it be in any way a reflection of boxing’s popularity and the size of normal boxing purses?

You get my point…

Fury’s last opponent got 4m IIRC, already a big purse by boxing standards if you are not called Fury, Usyk, AJ, Wilder, Canelo and a handful of other stars.
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We have fighters in Australia who can offer a lot more than $4 million to any belt holder who'll come down here and fight them- Tim Tszyu can fill a stadium here. Horn before that. That's more than Volk or Tuivasa could do. It's just a bigger sport right now. In time that may change.

Fury's last opponent "only" got $4 mill because it was the third in a trilogy no one wanted to see, involving a washed up fighter without much of a fan base.

Ngannou is currently a hot name, a current champ. I think he could do better vs say a Chisora because he'd be the A side; boxing fans would be curious how he'd go; MMA fans similarly.
 
Dacha said:
My guess is, he was offered 1 mil + some extras.

8 fight contract, so they wont have to deal with him ever again, lol.
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It can't be 1 mil if it was confirmed he would make more than Lesnar who made almost 3 million in his last fight.
 
A pivotal thing is hardly no one includes a bonus in calculating and comparing pay. Dana could claim he offered Ngannou 4 mil per fight and no win bonus and that would still qualify as highest paid HW because his base earnings would be more than Brock. It's ultimately a moot point because the PPV model was different then, there were more PPV points to allocate to fighters and Brock triples Franny's PPV buys so if we consider extra incentives like 5.5 million dollar bonuses and back end potential, Francis was never touching Brock's earnings.

That said, I expected Francis to announce something on Ariel's show but he doesn't appear to have anything concrete. The fact that he's currently jobless, without a manager and is pricing himself out of other MMA organizations is concerning. To make his decision worthwhile from a revenue perspective, he has to land a major boxing bout and not with an influencer because even with decent PPV numbers, his payout would be projected far less than a fight with Jon Jones. It's Fury, Wilder or bust for him and that's incredibly limiting.

Best case scenario: Francis, by the grace of the African gods, gets the Fury fight. He manages to not get knocked out and PFL signs him for super fights with like Mike Tyson or something freak show but would be thought of as competitive enough and would lure the casuals in. But with the soapbox Francis left on like he was fighting for principles and the greater good, he'd look like the most insincere, dishonorable shill if he ever returned to UFC without them rolling out healthcare to all fighters or ending their exclusivity clause - which I doubt they'll ever do. So that ship has sailed. He backed himself into a corner, so I'm not confident that this will play out the way he wants. But best of luck to him.
 


Some key things to pick up from this interview in short. It's not looking good

Ngannou has no management representing him in boxing or MMA, he has been dealing with the UFC and several other promotions directly

Doesn't believe Boxing or other MMA promotions will demand the same exclusivity the UFC does

Believes Boxing organizations will let him fight one big money fight with no commitment or loyalty

Has no idea what his plan is going forward but ideally wants to compete in boxing and MMA

Wants Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua

Hasn't heard from any major boxing promotions

Mentions later on in the interview when Ariel asks about a Wilder fight that, Ngannou knows about Wilder currently having contract issues with his promoter much similar to his own with the UFC

Asks Francis about any potential match ups outside the UFC that would interest him, which he says "I can't tell, but if i go somewhere we can figure it out". Not a good sign

Boxing works similar to the UFC in the sense that they're going to demand a multi fight deal just like the UFC would. Francis never seemed like the sharpest knife in the drawer, but this is worrying for anyone on the side of Ngannou. You would think he'd have already had another boxing/MMA venture already worked out prior to his exit from the UFC and get on it instantly. But with no management, platform or funding from anything else there's no conceivable way he goes into a negotiation room with an MMA or boxing promotion being his sole and only advocate and doesn't get ripped to shreds or bamboozled. He has seemingly completely and totally fucked himself
 
- Wilder is very likely to be facing Andy Ruiz next in a WBC title eliminator fight
- Fury is likely to be tied up in possibly 2 undisputed title fights with Oleksandr Usyk this year

Ngannou isn't getting either guy, and definitely not Joshua either. If he was even lucky enough to get a Dillain Whyte / Joseph Parker level fighter, he still gets beat and his stock goes down big time.
 
That interview was interesting to say the least. You could tell even Ariel was like wtf is going on with Ngannou
 
His alternatives are kind of irrelevant in this case, though. It’s clear that he just wasn’t going to cave in to the UFC and a deal was never going to happen.

It was an admirable attempt, but nobody will ever be able to change the UFC’s model. Too many bootlicking fans that don’t support fighters, they’d rather have Dana buy Richard Milles for the Nelk Boys.
 
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