The UFC would've been better off just letting Ngannou box

[CatchtheseHands]

If Francis were more popular than Alex he'd be doing a hell of lot more PPVs in PFL than 10,000.

Like you do realize that Bellator and Affliction used to get 100,000 PPVs right?

I NEVER SAID FRANCIS WAS MORE POPULAR THAN ALEX PLEASE MY GUY REAAAAAD WHAT I TYPE.

 

[Vehap1]

No. No. No.
He's not a bigger name than ever.
And the narrative now is that boxers are tougher then MMA fighters.
Ngannou losing is exactly why the UFC didn't want to let him box. It's not a good look to have your champ unconscious lying on the canvas smelling the refs shoes after getting embarrassed and performing worse than an amateur.
Yeah it would've been good for ngannou but it would've been bad for the UFC.
Fickle, casual fans don't have very long memories.

Francis did way better vs freaking prime Tyson Fury than Conor did vs retired Floyd
Pretty sure Conor is the face of MMA

 

[Jonny Ninja]

He's not a bigger name than ever.

He absolutely is, that’s indisputable! No one outside of mma fans knew who ngannou was before his fight with fury. He’s now well known amongst boxing fans and casuals combat sport fans everywhere!

 

[pamirec]

Teh UFC is a pos, but they did whats best for them imo. Francis took a highly risky path and it turned out to be the best decision he’s ever made.

 

[ocfightfan]

I think you are confusing what is better for Francis versus what is better for the UFC. Good for Francis that he got such a deal after leaving but I'm not convinced it will last, and I'm really not convince it would have been good for the UFC.

I got fooled by his performance against Tyson Fury, but after seeing him get crushed by Anthony Joshua it became obvious that my initial evaluation of him as a boxer was correct and Fury just took the night off. I think one more spanking by a top level boxer who takes him seriously will throw cold water on his boxing career. And I don't know how the PFL will be able to sustain his contract. Are they even profitable? Just how deep are the pockets of the fight game simps who are funding that side show?

But back to the interests of the UFC. Its not in their interest to see their HW champ get whupped in a boxing ring, or to copromote with an Indian reservation level competitor. Creating the appearance of having all the best fighters and most entertaining fights is what is in their interest. It allows them to milk us while feeding us watered down cards while exploiting the fighters at the same time. That way Ari Emmanuel can buy his next gold plated yacht.

 

[svmr_db]

None of this is evidence that ngannous mma career is dead, and you don’t know that Wilder is currently interested in boxing Ngannou? And yes, if that fight gets booked expect Francis to make a nice bag from it.

Who is paying to make that fight in boxing? The Saudis are the only ones who would put the money up & they likely aren't interested in Wilder any more after he shit the bed twice in a row. Dude is washed as hell.

 

[cshireman4]

They let Conor do it and then everybody wanted to. O'Malley thinks he can take Tank Davis, Kamaru Usman wanted Canelo LMAO. Shit was getting out of hand. Not to mention how much of a negotiating nightmare (and lackluster fighter) Conor became after he got that 'fuck you' money. Frank tried to play hardball and the UFC decided to make an example of him to the rest of the organization. No one expected his performance against Tyson Fury. For that reason, it all worked out quite well for Big Frank. Not sure that would have been the case if the Joshua fight was his first in the boxing ring. Either way, the Ngannou saga was a low probability outcome that worked out better for the fighter than it did the UFC. If they continue this same strategy, I think it stands to reason that they will come out ahead more times than not.

 

[rjmbrd]

Every fight he's had since has been a catastrophic financial failure

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Saudi Arabia is spending billions on sports as part of their overall investment strategy to diversify from oil. There is no secret, this is all published in mainstream media and SA has clearly explained their goals and metrics. They didn't book this event to make money on tickets or PPV buys, it didn't even run at a western time.

By the way, UAE and Saudi Arabia both spend hundreds of millions on the UFC, and they don't do it to make money on tickets. In fact all the money goes out, they are buying something, not selling.

The UFC is just mad this bit of oil money went to Ngannou instead of their pockets, where they traditionally keep 85% of it and give the fighters table scraps.

 

[Here's Johnny!]

I think this perspective has been proven wrong and it assumes that fight fans are dumb. Do you think that fight fans are unable to differentiate between mma and boxing? I haven't heard one person claim that boxers are tougher than MMA fighters after the Francis vs Anthony fight. Francis losing to Anthony in boxing did not hurt MMA's reputation at all. In fact, it added fans to Francis' base.

The PFL ppv sold like 20,000 ppvs... he's obviously not a draw... your entire thought process falls apart with the facts

 

[Ruke Doufus]

The UFC held up Francis' fighting career for over a year in contract dispute because they didn't want to let him box. He eventually left the UFC and made $30 mil losing in the boxing ring to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He got dominated and KOd in the loss vs Anthony Joshua. Yet, despite those losses, Francis is a bigger name now than he was when he left the UFC. If they had just let Francis box while retaining his UFC contract, they would now be in the position to stage some monster fights with him. Imagine how huge Francis vs Jon would be now? So, at the end of the day, why is it that the UFC won't let their fighters box? Both Francis and Conor have shown that losing in a boxing ring does not hurt their reputations in a fighting cage. In fact, if they are able to box with famous boxers like Floyd, Tyson, or Anthony, it will likely gain them more fans whether their fighter wins or loses.

Jones wouldn't fight him the first time, what makes you believe he'd do it now?

 

[RockyLockridge]

I NEVER SAID FRANCIS WAS MORE POPULAR THAN ALEX PLEASE MY GUY REAAAAAD WHAT I TYPE.

the question is why is alex more popular?

both say little and clatter people badly yet one is reverered and the other is forgotten

 

[haj02]

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Saudi Arabia is spending billions on sports as part of their overall investment strategy to diversify from oil. There is no secret, this is all published in mainstream media and SA has clearly explained their goals and metrics. They didn't book this event to make money on tickets or PPV buys, it didn't even run at a western time.

By the way, UAE and Saudi Arabia both spend hundreds of millions on the UFC, and they don't do it to make money on tickets. In fact all the money goes out, they are buying something, not selling.

The UFC is just mad this bit of oil money went to Ngannou instead of their pockets, where they traditionally keep 85% of it and give the fighters table scraps.

Both things can be true, Francis's fights can be catastrophic financial failures and the Saudis can be using their venture into combat sports as a long game to get dominance over the market. You assume I have no idea about this because you are a know it all who thinks they have it all figured out. Stop being a binary thinker, it's good for you.

 

[rjmbrd]

Both things can be true, Francis's fights can be catastrophic financial failures and the Saudis can be using their venture into combat sports as a long game to get dominance over the market.

No. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of of SA's stated, public plan on sports and entertainment investment. They are BUYING something, not selling something. Paying for a service you do not intend to sell for profit is not construed (or even measured) as a financial failure.

The entire point is marketing, PR and paying to bring world class sports and names into SA.

The UFC gets paid hundreds of millions from both SA and UAE to do the same. Do you consider that a "financial failure?" The only difference is instead of getting filtered through the UFCs pockets, Francis was getting paid the lions share.

You assume I have no idea about this because you are a know it all who thinks they have it all figured out. Stop being a binary thinker, it's good for you.

Google this topic if you don't want to read the link I provided you. I don't "know it all" this is published in mainstream news and quoted directly from SA's royal family. Being aware of basic facts isn't figuring things out.

 

[VAfan]

i agree. it's a bad precedent to set but they let conor do it and while not in quite the same category, francis was definitely someone they wanted to hold onto. he was an exciting finisher in a laughably weak division and could have supported it singlehandedly for years to come. they dropped the ball with that one, should have caved and given him the special treatment.

 

[NoSmilez]

It was better for Francis to leave. He had a hard time with Gane.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Francis did way better vs freaking prime Tyson Fury than Conor did vs retired Floyd
Pretty sure Conor is the face of MMA

Agreed.
But Mayweather didn't underestimate McGregor.
Fury absolutely underestimated Ngannou.

And McGregor losing to Mayweather was a horrible look for the UFC. The UFC lost fans because of that boxing. I personally know a few people who never watched another McGregor fight again. Granted these weren't MMA or boxing fans. I'd categorize them as strictly McGregor fans and Mayweather haters. And after McGregor made all that money he became a nightmare for the UFC to work with. The UFC will never, ever give a fighter that kinda leverage to use against the UFC again. Keep in mind McGregor is still contracted to the UFC and it's damn there impossible to get him to fight

 

[Bend NvR Break]

He absolutely is, that’s indisputable! No one outside of mma fans knew who ngannou was before his fight with fury. He’s now well known amongst boxing fans and casuals combat sport fans everywhere!

No he's not. Fury vs Ngannou didn't even sell 70K in the US. Some oil rich billionaires in Saudi Arabia are trying to sports wash their image and have the cash to blow to make matches happen. The shieks lost money on the fury fight.
The Ngannou vs Joshua fight only sold 4600 ppv in the US. 65000 less ppv buys between the Fury and Joshua fight.
And then when he returned to MMA for PFL PFL said they sold a little over 10K ppv.
He's less relevant than ever. The only reason Ngannou is making money is because all 3 fights (2 boxing and 1 MMA) were all in Saudi Arabia where they aren't looking to make money. They are spending money trying to change their shitty image.

You know what the boxing community is talking about? The Ngannou curse. How after you box ngannou you will lose your next boxing match. Do you think that's a good reputation to have?

 

[Jonny Ninja]

No he's not. Fury vs Ngannou didn't even sell 70K in the US. Some oil rich billionaires in Saudi Arabia are trying to sports wash their image and have the cash to blow to make matches happen. The shieks lost money on the fury fight.
The Ngannou vs Joshua fight only sold 4600 ppv in the US. 65000 less ppv buys between the Fury and Joshua fight.
And then when he returned to MMA for PFL PFL said they sold a little over 10K ppv.
He's less relevant than ever. The only reason Ngannou is making money is because all 3 fights (2 boxing and 1 MMA) were all in Saudi Arabia where they aren't looking to make money. They are spending money trying to change their shitty image.

You know what the boxing community is talking about? The Ngannou curse. How after you box ngannou you will lose your next boxing match. Do you think that's a good reputation to have?

What a load of nonsense. The US isn’t the world, nganou is far more recognisable world wide than he was when in the ufc. That’s absolutely obvious

As for ‘the nganou curse’, that’s the first I’ve heard of it. I mainly post in the boxing section of this site, and another boxing forum. No ones talking about it, boxing fans have long moved on

 

[Bend NvR Break]

What a load of nonsense. The US isn’t the world, nganou is far more recognisable world wide than he was when in the ufc. That’s absolutely obvious

As for ‘the nganou curse’, that’s the first I’ve heard of it. I mainly post in the boxing section of this site, and another boxing forum. No ones talking about it, boxing fans have long moved on

These are relatively new shorts.
I'm not the biggest follower of boxing but I've been hearing about the Ngannou curse ever since Joshua got beat. That's pretty much all the boxing community has for ngannou. Absolutely nobody is trying to book a Francis Ngannou boxing match.

And you have to watch American focused sports to even know who the hell Francis Ngannou is.

And for the record when it comes to ppv sales that's an American thing. Most of the world has subscriptions that allow them to watch events while Americans have to pay individually for each event. So American ppv sales are often a good indicator of how popular a fighter is.

 

[Bouboumaster]

The UFC held up Francis' fighting career for over a year in contract dispute because they didn't want to let him box. He eventually left the UFC and made $30 mil losing in the boxing ring to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He got dominated and KOd in the loss vs Anthony Joshua. Yet, despite those losses, Francis is a bigger name now than he was when he left the UFC. If they had just let Francis box while retaining his UFC contract, they would now be in the position to stage some monster fights with him. Imagine how huge Francis vs Jon would be now? So, at the end of the day, why is it that the UFC won't let their fighters box? Both Francis and Conor have shown that losing in a boxing ring does not hurt their reputations in a fighting cage. In fact, if they are able to box with famous boxers like Floyd, Tyson, or Anthony, it will likely gain them more fans whether their fighter wins or loses.

100% correct

The fact is: Dana White is kind of an agressive/douchebag version of Forrest Gump who also happen to have a kink for Jon Jones and this is why he did what he did