What should the UFC do with Ngannou's contract situation?

[Black Paladin]

Morally or financially because they're 2 different discussions.

Financially:

1. You don't want the other fighters to see you cave. At least not easily. They might all grow a pair and start to negotiate. I think the first turn out of the driveway is to offer him anther fight demonstrating your intent to exercise the championship clause. That may come up in court otherwise. Then just wait for him to try to leave. This keeps him on ice not earning an income for almost a year.
2. When he imagines his contract is up, let him talk to Fury or Bellator then sue everyone. Ask the court for injunctions on all fronts. Stall everything he's working on. You want to rack up his legal bills while he's not earning, and make it not worth the time/money for promoters to deal with his mess.
3. This would be a good time to cut any expendable fighter who shares management, trainers, or an agent with him. Make the people around him suffer for standing with him.
4. The whole time you want to leak the narrative to the press and the fans about how he's leaving to get away from Jones because he's scared. You're "hearing rumors from inside his camp" that he knows Jon can take him down at will. That kind of thing. You also want to blame him at every turn for holding up the division, running, not honoring his contract, and anything else you can think of (this is already kind of happening).
5. When he has no place else to go, and you've inflicted sufficient financial pain, then you offer to settle with an undisclosed pay bump that brings him closer to what he's asking for, but doesn't look like a win to any fighters watching from the side line. This agreement bars him from disclosing the terms of the deal or publicly complaining about the whole ordeal.

Brilliant stuff, but example of why the world is so fucked up now.

3. can get you a racketeering charge (or something of the sort).

 

[OldNick]

A deal is a deal, he could have not signed the contract.

He's going to finish his deal by sitting out, because that is part of the deal as well. He's still fulfilling his contract.

 

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

Pay him

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Good point. I will admit that.

But the PPV numbers are misleading. For the most part, they always have been.

The general statistics are fine (Conor > Mighty Mouse), but it's really impossible to analyze PPV numbers accurately. Time of year matters. Undercard matters. Counter-programming from rival entertainment matters.

Conor will sell no matter what. Ngannou has now headlined in 3 ppvs I believe. If none of those sold well you can’t just chalk it up to those other factors you mentioned. A real superstar will sell despite any other factors. And I just don’t believe the UFC is going to capitulate publicly to anybody. Remember when Conor was pushing for a stake in the company? He’s the biggest star the company has ever seen. And that didn’t work out. Dana didn’t even entertain his ridiculous suggestion in PRIVATE about fighting Diego in Dublin.

Again I believe every UFC fighter should get more money. But negotiating in public as a lone fighter, that isn’t even a proven draw isn’t the way to make that happen. Especially if you drag the company’s name through the mud while doing it.

It’s just business.

 

[jx820]

In that case if I was Frank's people I would be going to court to get a ruling preemptively.

Same. They should be trying to cut all of this off in advance.

I believe you can structure an arbitration clause to prevent that. You require contract disputes to be settled by a 3rd party arbitrator before going to court, then the simple question of "is this contract even binding anymore" may need to be settled in arbitration and you can get it thrown out of court until that determination is made.

Which is kind of a paradox because if the arbitrator decides it's not binding anymore then you didn't have to go through arbitration anyway.

 

[MCS]

Use this injury recovery time to sort things out with him. No avoiding and counting profit, but straight up tell WME the HW champ needs to get paid, or he leaves, or won't fight at all.

Work together with him. Meet him as many times as required. No manager on the phone he said she said hogwash, but face to face. Either pay him 2 mil a fight plus points or do the boxing match, then try to get him back to the UFC after it. Ngannou deserves it, he's been putting foes on reels for years now.

The promotion has been making too much compared to the fighters. There is always a way for both to profit. Because eventually someone else will decide the split.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

Pay up, bitch.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

If I’m Dana,

Freeze him out. Let him walk.

It’s actually a no brainer - from Dana’s and from a business perspective - and fans who are conflicted about this aren’t looking at it very clearly IMO.

And for the record, I am pro fighter, pro higher pay, and hope the UFC is forced by an outside entity to increase pay (cuz they sure have little incentive to do it themselves).

But the question isn’t “what would SFF do”….

 

[DebtCollectorMMA]

Strip title and sue

 

[fractal]

UFC doesn't want to set a precedent Personally, I think Ngannou should have a base pay of 1 million but UFC at the most would offer him 750k-850k. To Ngannou, that's simply not enough based on what boxing pays and UFC's revenue. Someone has to take a stand eventually.

Doesn't make sense they were paying Hunt a base of 700k to lose, but cannot justify paying the HW defending champion on a 6W streak $1M base.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

Doesn't make sense they were paying Hunt a base of 700k to lose, but cannot justify paying the HW defending champion on a 6W streak $1M base.

I have no idea how Hunto worked out a 850k a fight base pay. Only him and Overeem managed to do that. Either they had a great manager or with Hunt, it was some kind of carry over the PRIDE contract.

Ngannou is getting 500k. Surely you can pay the man at least 850k to 1 million. He's only fighting twice a year.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Use this injury recovery time to sort things out with him. No avoiding and counting profit, but straight up tell WME the HW champ needs to get paid, or he leaves, or won't fight at all.

Work together with him. Meet him as many times as required. No manager on the phone he said she said hogwash, but face to face. Either pay him 2 mil a fight plus points or do the boxing match, then try to get him back to the UFC after it. Ngannou deserves it, he's been putting foes on reels for years now.

The promotion has been making too much compared to the fighters. There is always a way for both to profit. Because eventually someone else will decide the split.

We don’t know dick. Savvy sherdoggers acknowledge it. We are working in the dark here.

That being said, it appears that Ngannou’s management (CAA) has been a major force in this. And Ngannou seems committed to their vision of his future.

Getting Ngannou to talk turkey around CAA is probably a non starter.

I’m confident they’ve convinced Ngannou that he’s worth top boxer money, and if UFC won’t do it, they can get him that money elsewhere. Whether they’re right or not remains to be seen, but if they’re committed to that, it’s pretty hard to get anywhere else.

He keeps saying he wants boxing. Whether for money or the experience. If Dana can pull off another MayMac with him, I imagine he would be game. My guess is he has ran the numbers and concluded Ngannou nor Fury have the clout that both Mayweather and Conor had, so it’s just not worth it.

The fact CAA lawyers have concluded they can walk in a year, and aren’t negotiating, shows where they’re headed with this thing.

So. If even half the above is close to the truth, then my conclusion is simple - Dana’s only move is to just move on.

 

[Adebisi]

You can’t give him what he wants, from the UFC’s perspective.

If they cave in to Ngannou, every top fighter on the roster is going to hold out for more money and favourable terms. The UFC isn’t built like that, unfortunately.

Dana’s perspective is that the fighters are privileged just to be apart of the UFC. If you aren’t Conor or Khabib, you’re below the organization.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

I have no idea how Hunto worked out a 850k a fight base pay. Only him and Overeem managed to do that. Either they had a great manager or with Hunt, it was some kind of carry over the PRIDE contract.

Ngannou is getting 500k. Surely you can pay the man at least 850k to 1 million. He's only fighting twice a year.

They didn’t get points though. Cro Cop led the way. In ‘06 he took $500k per fight regardless of PPV, points, or anything. Just a flat rate. Instead of, say, $200k + points (above 400k PPVs). Cro Cop didn’t want to care about how many PPVs were sold.

Overeem and Hunt saw that and copied it.

 

[Adebisi]

We don’t know dick. Savvy sherdoggers acknowledge it. We are working in the dark here.

That being said, it appears that Ngannou’s management (CAA) has been a major force in this. And Ngannou seems committed to their vision of his future.

Getting Ngannou to talk turkey around CAA is probably a non starter.

I’m confident they’ve convinced Ngannou that he’s worth top boxer money, and if UFC won’t do it, they can get him that money elsewhere. Whether they’re right or not remains to be seen, but if they’re committed to that, it’s pretty hard to get anywhere else.

He keeps saying he wants boxing. Whether for money or the experience. If Dana can pull off another MayMac with him, I imagine he would be game. My guess is he has ran the numbers and concluded Ngannou nor Fury have the clout that both Mayweather and Conor had, so it’s just not worth it.

The fact CAA lawyers have concluded they can walk in a year, and aren’t negotiating, shows where they’re headed with this thing.

So. If even half the above is close to the truth, then my conclusion is simple - Dana’s only move is to just move on.

Ngannou/Fury wouldn’t do Floyd/Conor numbers, but it would do very well IMO. These circus fights are more popular than ever.

The issue, other than Dana not wanting a precedent to be set(where top fighters have leverage), is that he probably doesn’t want the UFC’s HW champ(supposed to be the most feared position in combat sports) to get embarrassed in a fight.

I think most fans in 2022 are intelligent enough to realize that boxing and mma are different sports where Fury would have a built-in advantage, but who knows?

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Ngannou/Fury wouldn’t do Floyd/Conor numbers, but it would do very well IMO. These circus fights are more popular than ever.

The issue, other than Dana not wanting a precedent to be set(where top fighters have leverage), is that he probably doesn’t want the UFC’s HW champ(supposed to be the most feared position in combat sports) to get embarrassed in a fight.

I think most fans in 2022 are intelligent enough to realize that boxing and mma are different sports where Fury would have a built-in advantage, but who knows?

Also, Mayweather is his own promoter. And Dana worked with Conor. For Fury-Ngannou they would have to negotiate with about 12 parties, including Fury’s mandatory defenses. Including CAA.

What a fucking nightmare. Especially if CAA starts out said negotiations heavy handed, which it sounds like they have.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Cut him loose -- release him back into the wild.

Ngannou stated pretty matter-of-factly that he didn't grow up dreaming about becoming an MMA Champion, so he is not that connected to it by his own admission; and there is no great loss, as he continues to downplay MMA.

That shouldn't diminish his accomplishments, but if he can wait out and escape -- then so be it.

MMA isn't going away.

 

[MCS]

We don’t know dick. Savvy sherdoggers acknowledge it. We are working in the dark here.

That being said, it appears that Ngannou’s management (CAA) has been a major force in this. And Ngannou seems committed to their vision of his future.

Getting Ngannou to talk turkey around CAA is probably a non starter.

I’m confident they’ve convinced Ngannou that he’s worth top boxer money, and if UFC won’t do it, they can get him that money elsewhere. Whether they’re right or not remains to be seen, but if they’re committed to that, it’s pretty hard to get anywhere else.

He keeps saying he wants boxing. Whether for money or the experience. If Dana can pull off another MayMac with him, I imagine he would be game. My guess is he has ran the numbers and concluded Ngannou nor Fury have the clout that both Mayweather and Conor had, so it’s just not worth it.

The fact CAA lawyers have concluded they can walk in a year, and aren’t negotiating, shows where they’re headed with this thing.

So. If even half the above is close to the truth, then my conclusion is simple - Dana’s only move is to just move on.

They've met once. Accidentally, tables close to each other. The talk was "good". Yet no belt put on or a post-fight conference. Some hate message from a random number.

Dana is a face to face guy. I believe a HW champ is practical, similar. Old boxers and NFL players didn't listen to caution and went to crime leaders for peace. They tried. It's not always wise to listen.

The champ clause is unclear. If December is an actual date. Court is the last place I'd imagine Francis wants to be at age 35. The boxing seems like a one-off, then done. He can't just come back after that, "not interested" would be a likely response. An agreement would seem better.

 

[StonedLemur]

Are you suggesting ESPN and other TV networks pay Ngannou?

No he's saying that the cost for all the fighters pay could be covered by that amount of buys.

Nevermind all the other cash they raked in.

He's saying they made shit loads off the backs of the fighters and paid them peanuts sir.

 

[BigTruck]

I have no idea how Hunto worked out a 850k a fight base pay. Only him and Overeem managed to do that. Either they had a great manager or with Hunt, it was some kind of carry over the PRIDE contract.

Ngannou is getting 500k. Surely you can pay the man at least 850k to 1 million. He's only fighting twice a year.

Hunt was making 6k from his pride carry over and then his pay shot to $100s then after the Brock fight it went to $700s which tells me mark was well informed about Brock not being able to pass a piss test and accepted a Hugh payday to fight him anyway.

Not 100% reliable obviously but it's a good idea of his pay scale.
https://thesportsdaily.com/2018/02/11/mark-hunt-career-earnings-fox11/