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By Tata Mbunwe
Cameroonian heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, has revealed he will be embracing boxing at the moment after failing to conclude a new deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC.
In his first public comment on the sudden termination of his UFC contract, Ngannou on Thursday, January 19, said he wants to try boxing before returning to mixed marshall arts (MMA), his specialty.
“I want to start doing some boxing at first before stepping into MMA, because regardless, I still have so much excitement and so much love for MMA that I feel like I have to deliver anything to get into MMA. But I also want to do some boxing, maybe explore one possiblity of doing one boxing match and come back into MMA,” Ngannou said in a video posted on his Facebook page.
Despite being a two-time UFC champion, Ngannou, analysts say, is inexperienced in boxing and will be no match for boxing heavyweight giants like Tyson Fury.
Ngannou turned down highest UFC pay ever
It appears Ngannou walked out of the UFC not because of money.
The UFC stripped the 36-year-old of his heavyweight champion title early this week after they could not meet his demand for an insurance, sponsorship and a fighters advocate at the UFC board.
UFC president Dana White said they offered Ngannou a chance to become the highest paid UFC heavyweight in the history of the competition but he turned it down.
Ngannou would have been paid $8 million (4.8 billion francs) per fight if he had accepted the offer.
“We offered Francis a deal that would have made him the highest paid heavyweight in the history of the company… and he turned the deal down,” White said during a post-fight press conference.
Ngannou, who is just recovering from a knee surgery, was going to fight Jon Jones, another tough UFC fighter, if he had accepted the new contract.
“I think Francis is in a place right now where he doesn’t want to take a lot of risk. He feels like he’s in a good position where he could fight lesser opponents and make more money. So we’re gonna let him do that; we’re gonna release him from his contract; we’re gonna give up our right to match and he can go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants,” said Dana White.
Ngannou has however termed Dana White’s claims ridiculous.
“They have also said that I’m scared of fighting Jon Jones or somebody else which I don’t know where they came from with that one that sounds very ridiculous in my opinion with all due respect, because I’ve been calling for this fight for the past two years, I’ve been waiting forevermore…,” he said.
Ngannou’s rights not respected
Francis Ngannou’s last contract with the UFC was signed in December 2017. In his seven-year career at the championship, he has won 17 out of 20 fights and has lost only three.
The Predator however says he had no rights at the UFC and just like other fighters in the competition, his opinion did not matter and they decided everything for him.
He says he has left the UFC because he does not want to be trapped.
“I’m not scared. The only thing that I’m scared of is to be trapped; it’s not to lose my freedom which I value very much,” Ngannou said.
“You guys know how the UFC contract can be very demanding and as an independent contractor you don’t really have a say in that contract you don’t even have a right so I can’t do that.”
He furthers: “I signed my last contract in December 2017 even at the time I knew it wasn’t a good contract but I knew I had to earn my position, become a champion, have more value in order to negotiate a better deal for me. I needed to add more value to myself and that’s what I’ve been doing in the past five years, which is okay. I never really complained in that contract no matter what happened. The only thing that I wanted is the right to deliver that contract, to terminate that contract as I should and move on into the next one. I do believe that I have that right at least.”
Francis Ngannou made his MMA debut at the UFC and this is the first time the champion is open to new deals.
Now he has to look after himself and make his own choices – that’s just what he wanted.
“It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t come to terms which I wish we could’ve but it is what it is. But as an independent contractor I have to look up to myself and do what’s right for me and everyone out there should do the same for themselves,” Ngannou said.
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