Ngannou is rumored to become an MMA free agent at some point this year, he should return to the UFC

[volcom5]

PFL is victim to the greatest con job ever in combat sports. Paid milions of dollars for one fight that didn't even sell well while he wasted his contract with boxing, all that while losing value after getting KO'd stiff. And people ask why Dana didn't let him box in his contract.
Francis is not worth what he think he does, but the PFL bought it.
PFL should contact DOGE about waste fraud and abuse.

Coker getting in bed m1 and Fedor is kinda up there, they made money short term. But Fedors management kept renegotiating after bouts which in turn led them to sell.

PFL can atleast salvage what they have left, but they already set a negative view for themselves in their regard with not being about to give fighters bouts and holding them hostage even after they fought out their contract.

People can hate Dana and the UFC all they want, but they’re the only consistently putting events, staying a float while making countless fighters millions even though the haters believe otherwise.

 

[spinup]

Let it go Sherbro.

It's not like the UFC HW division has moved far since he left.
He is still as legit as Jones or Aspinall.

 

[HHJ]

Yeah this post-UFC life isn't working out too well for him it would seem. One fight in the org he was supposed to become the poster boy of and he's already potentially leaving? And that's already after taking time to go get KOd in boxing while being signed to the PFL.

Seemed like it worked out just fine.

 

[JoeRowe]

no way he returns, dana called him a scumbag and slandered him publicly and ngannou also shit talked dana on twitter, dana's not letting him come back out of spite

See Dana vs Randy & Dana vs Tito. Nothing is impossible when money is involved.

And if Jon won't accept Tom for 20M, then I bet Francis would do it. Dana will go with whatever is clever in the moment.

 

[Thawing Mammoth]

Sure why not

 

[Pequeño Corey]

The UFC offered him 8 mill + PPV for Jones which is no different than his pay in PFL or in boxing vs Fury. The difference is now, boxing wont pay him those dollars cause he got KO'd vs Joshua and doesn't have that marketability. He will be lucky to get half. So yah, he needs mma.

And LOL they can't afford him. If the UFC wanted they can pay him 50 million if they wanted. Their revenues last were were over 1.4 billion. But they wont and you know why?? It's because he's just not worth the pay. Francis doesn't sell PPVs and he doesn't bring in the revenues to compensate for that. And that is why the UFC didn't meet his demands, he just wasn't worth it.

Don’t forget the 20 mil for Joshua.

And don’t forget that if Franc lost in the UFC, he’d be back to a couple hundred K per fight. And he never would have gotten to pursue his dream of boxing.

Now look man, I don’t need you to explain why the UFC won’t pony up boxing money for Franc’s services. That was never my point. I’m just saying that a guy with 30 mil in the bank (understand he has to pay taxes and whatnot) simply doesn’t need a restrictive UFC contract and the potential to be making 200k per fight. You said it; there’s not world where the UFC would pay enough money to make Franc surrender his freedom and fight for them.

Franc chose well. He got to have his cake and eat it too. Not sure why people can’t just be happy for him.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Don’t forget the 20 mil for Joshua.

And don’t forget that if Franc lost in the UFC, he’d be back to a couple hundred K per fight. And he never would have gotten to pursue his dream of boxing.

Now look man, I don’t need you to explain why the UFC won’t pony up boxing money for Franc’s services. That was never my point. I’m just saying that a guy with 30 mil in the bank (understand he has to pay taxes and whatnot) simply doesn’t need a restrictive UFC contract and the potential to be making 200k per fight. You said it; there’s not world where the UFC would pay enough money to make Franc surrender his freedom and fight for them.

Franc chose well. He got to have his cake and eat it too. Not sure why people can’t just be happy for him.

I doubted his decision but glad it worked out for him that's for sure. And happy for him to come back and fight Jones and Aspinall, both of those fights would be fun.

 

[Tweak896]

Maybe Ngannou will be back up plan if Jones Aspinall falls. Crazy if we don't get either of the 3 fighting each other. Reminds me of boxings bullshit. Fury, Usyk, Joshua for awhile.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Maybe Ngannou will be back up plan if Jones Aspinall falls. Crazy if we don't get either of the 3 fighting each other. Reminds me of boxings bullshit. Fury, Usyk, Joshua for awhile.

I would think Gane would be the back up before Francis is. I mean Gane "beat" Volkov so he is very much in a position for it if Jon vs tom falls through.

 

[Domitian]

Francis isn't coming back to the UFC without taking a massive pay cut and groveling to Dana. In other words, it ain't happening.

 

[Tweak896]

I would think Gane would be the back up before Francis is. I mean Gane "beat" Volkov so he is very much in a position for it if Jon vs tom falls through.

Yeah, but that's just an average fight, probably have to stack the card. As far as big HW fights go, those are the only 3 names. Really wonder how well Aspinall/Ngannou would even sell.

 

[Steve Fox]

It's not like the UFC HW division has moved far since he left.
He is still as legit as Jones or Aspinall.

He isn't in the organization.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Yeah, but that's just an average fight, probably have to stack the card. As far as big HW fights go, those are the only 3 names. Really wonder how well Aspinall/Ngannou would even sell.

I would imagine quite a lot. It's the only big match up which doesn't involve Jon that people really want to see at HW.

 

[funksoulbrother]

Dana will lowball him bad lol

 

[cmw43]

Dana has proven in the past he (eventually) will put aside past differences if it is in HIS (and the UFC's by default) best interests. He did it with Tito, Randy and GSP. He did it with Toney. He did it with Punk. Ronda. He did it letting Conor box.

If Dana can make money off of re-signing Big Frank, he will do it and frankly, he would be an idiot not to. If Dana had just agreed to grant Frank the same luxury he did Conor, Ngannou most likely would not have even left the UFC and we could have avoided years and countless "what if" threads.

Still feels ike it was an orchestrated move on Dana's part to install Jon as the HW champ though. Jon's tenure as HW champ has largely been uneventful and boring as fuck. It's been the Interim champ making it interesting.

Dana let Conor box because his ppv numbers were undeniable and they agreed to give UFC a slice of the boxing ppv and it sold over 4 million buys.

Ngannou wanted to box, didn't want to cut UFC in on the action, wasn't a draw and barely sold anything and the expectation was that he was gonna get wrecked like he did against Joshua, he didn't give Dana any good reason to let him box like Conor did.

 

[Tweak896]

I would imagine quite a lot. It's the only big match up which doesn't involve Jon that people really want to see at HW.

I hope so. Seems like the big HW matchups center around selling whether Jones will lose to someone. If the fight ends up being Aspinall vs Gane I'll be disappointed.

 

[Bwagster]

Francis went the money route instead of the legacy route. It may be the best for him, but it sucks for the fans. He’s got to be on the backend of his prime. Dana may say some harsh words, but at the end of the day he’s all business. Francis vs Jones would be massive.