News Francis will only re-sign if he's allowed to box

[Spath]

Good for Francis. He shouldn't be wasting his time fighting for peanuts relative to what he could be making.

Hope he leaves.

He only has leverage to get a big boxing fight if he is the UFC HW champion. He leaves and he’ll be old MMA fighter, ex-champ who’s chasing money. Why would boxing stars give him the opportunity?

He’s stuck and needs to get a good deal. He’s not going anywhere, but he’s not making it easy for the UFC.. In my opinion

 

[Sweater of AV]

He only has leverage to get a big boxing fight if he is the UFC HW champion. He leaves and he’ll be old MMA fighter, ex-champ who’s chasing money. Why would boxing stars give him the opportunity?

He’s stuck and needs to get a good deal. He’s not going anywhere, but he’s not making it easy for the UFC.. In my opinion

By "big boxing fight" do you mean make a lot of money? If so, then you're completely wrong. The past year should be a good indication of how wrong you are.

Not even talking about the obvious examples, why did Chavez Jr. fight Anderson? Francis can easily get interesting and lucrative boxing fights. On top of that, he won't have to deal with the UFC's nonsense.

 

[Myrddin Wild]

That's kind of exactly what Deontay did and he became one of the best punchers of all time, bust best boxer is another story. Joshua has no clue or is allergic to fighting in the pocket, hence why he got the shit kicked out of him by Uysk and Ruiz. Francis isn't.

Well said, but I'd point out that although Deontay got a late start (20 yrs old per wikipedia) and placed at the 2008 olympics after 3 yearz of specified boxing training, that might not be as easy a time frame to traverse for our MMA specialist who has primal muscle memory guaged at kicks & takedowns.

Our guy came up late too in a boxing gym at 22 yrs old, but after a year of boxing & then there-after some strange luck gave him significant delays of no training... he ended up in an MMA gym, where they re-arranged all his footwork & technique to be prepared for kicks & take downz. At that point he stopped his boxing training... imo... if we're talking about him taking on strictly boxers who have never had to be concerned about kicks or take downs... I'm thinking it's to his disadvantage to enter that space. The stances are different. The whole "game" is different.

That said... it was lil' NGannou'z dream to box... so I'm rooting for him. I'm not making any bets though that he can take on the likes of the best in the world boxerz. Maybe he can though. Is he going to try & be the UFC's champ at the same time as he'z training for a boxing title? Man, that would be some next level shit if he could do that.

Great discussion btw... I'm not knocking the possibility of him being successful... I'm just trying to imagine how a guy does both at the same time. 2 separate muscle memories?

 

[svmr_db]

It's just not realistic for him to box & fight in the UFC in the same year. So give Francis 2 months to train for a boxing match, he possibly gets knocked out, and then he's off for 3 more months to recover etc? So now UFC only has him for up to 7 months of the year to book 1 or 2 fights?

He's gonna get humbled really bad if he ever gets a chance to box, if he's fighting opponents with names that is and not just bums off the street.

 

[Sasha]

, all this boxing talk might shift his focus in the sport.

This is actually my only concern* in this shit. His contract problems are his business, but it seems possible to me he that he may not be 100% there on the next fight night because of all this.

*hope

 

[Captain Insano]

I still don't get how they are contractors but at the same time the UFC has the ability to block them from pursuing other sporting opportunities. Either they are employees or not, can't have it both ways. I reckon it would fail in the courts if anyone ever took it there but that's a lot off money and basically throwing your career away.

The UFC doesn't have carte blanche to stop them from competing in other sports. UFC athletes voluntarily agree to the UFC's terms. No one puts a gun to their heads.

It would never fail in courts bc the UFC puts this in their contract to protect their own business interests. It happens literally every day.

 

[mmamxfan]

Ya that will go real well for him. Windmill punches always work good against guys who have been boxing their whole lives. Lol

 

[Uke]

What if Jake Paul KO's Francis?!

 

[El Fernas]

Smart of him to do that. He’s 35-36, doesn’t have too long left. He should box, even if he loses get set up and retire for life. Who cares about the belts, Tim Sylvia was ufc champ is fixing roofs and begging people for money to fix his arm

Of course he would lose in boxing, but he must win this fight and what seems to be 1 extra title defense then in theory he could leave to fight elsewhere, i certainly doubt the UFC allows him to do boxing while still signed, he wont sell enough for them to co-promote like they did with Conor, there is not much interest in it imo.

 

[Anthony7]

Another guy for Jake Paul to embarrass.

 

[RogerB08]

He'll be getting KO'd by Pulev on a Triller show in the near future.

 

[TankvsNelmark]

In that one fight he'll make more than he would in the UFC. In two fights Woodley made more than he ever did in the UFC. Smooth thinking Tank.

He made 2m not 200m he will be broke in a year with brain damage and known as the guy who got flat lined by a pretend boxer

 

[Bigmoney4166]

I have no problem with this. Don't see why anyone else would.

 

[DevNull69]

but there will be interest for couple of fights and he'll make enough to be good for life. Cant say that if he just slaves for Dana

I dont blame him for not wanting to get dicked by the ufc anymore, however he's a lil old to try to get into boxing. He gon get ktfo.

 

[Sweater of AV]

He made 2m not 200m he will be broke in a year with brain damage and known as the guy who got flat lined by a pretend boxer

Both fights combined will likely be over 4 million my smooth friend. Also, you're looking at it in hindsight. You had no idea he would be KO'd. He could have won the second fight and set up a trilogy for another crapload of money.

Take longer to think next time.

 

[MyFavSport]

Francis isnt tough and whines a lot.
Conor has more heart then him

 

[NFLDer]

Who The fuck wants to pay him to box? He doesn’t beat any HW in the top 30. His boxing isn’t even good for MMA.

 

[Gilday]

2022, the year Ngannou gets slept by Jake Paul

 

[TorontoTO]

The UFC doesn't have carte blanche to stop them from competing in other sports. UFC athletes voluntarily agree to the UFC's terms. No one puts a gun to their heads.

It would never fail in courts bc the UFC puts this in their contract to protect their own business interests. It happens literally every day.

You know just because something is in a contract, doesn’t mean that it isn’t illegal or non binding? Non-disclosure agreements for example are almost never legally binding if they were taken to court. Same thing with clauses that if you leave a company, you can’t work for competitors for a set amount of time

 

[IDGETKTFO]

Dana or WME–IMG has to be kicking themselfs in the ass for not going through with the boxing division. It would have nipped any chance of these MMA fighters going to other boxing Orgs.