On March 21, 2021, UFC fans enjoyed for the last time the brutality of Cameroonian fighter Francis Ngannou. That night, he knocked out the two times Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic and became the new monarch of the octagon. Almost one year after Ngannou is making the first defense of his title on UFC 270 on January 22, but it could not be only the beginning of his reign as there is a decision he might have already taken about his future.
The Predatoris one of the best Pound for Pound UFC fighters nowadays. He holds a record of 19 fights, 16 victories, and 3 defeats during his Mixed Martial Arts performance. Ngannou is undefeated since 2018, including notorious wins over former Heavyweight Champions Mexican American Cain Velazquez and Brazilian Junior dos Santos.
On the UFC 270, Francis Ngannou is clashing against French Cyril Gane, a very tough opponent. The 31-year-old la Roche Native is still an undefeated fighter. After a successful initiation on Muay Thai and Kick Boxing, Gane appeared in MMA in 2018, and, since then, he has won the 10 fights he has held. His highlight so far is the TKO he gave to Junior dos Santos in 2020.
The decision of Francis Ngannou about his future in the UFC
In an interview withComplex,The Predatorconfessed he was not very sure to continue his path in the UFC due to not only economical issues. The Cameroonian titan accepted he does not feel fairly valued even he is one of the biggest attractions of Dana White‘s company.
“It seems like it’s just about the pay, but it’s about way more than they pay. It’s the contract, the terms, it’s everything about that contract. For me, it is not fair because it doesn’t commit the UFC with any type of responsibility. It’s way more beyond the pay. But I will just speak for myself, yes, I’m not fairly paid“.
Furthermore, Francis Ngannou seems to have lost his hope in having a better contract with UFC and prefers just to focus on his current fight and after its ending, he may decide which his next step will be: “Well, at this point I really stopped hoping. I just let them go and we will see how it plays out. I’ve been hoping for so long, the past two years or more. At this point I don’t really know. A lot of things fell apart and I don’t really know exactly what to say. I just wanna make sure that regardless I will be good.“
According to ComplexNgannou’s tenure in the UFC depends on the result of his UFC 270 clash. If he losses, he would turn into a free agent, but, in case of winning, hemust continue with Dana White’s company for one more year or three more fights. If the last scenario occurs, the 35-year-old champion may be considering to holdout to finish anyway with the bond.
Francis Ngannou’s blink to boxing Heavyweight World Champion Tyson Fury
After thedisillusionof his relationship with UFC,The Predatormay have considered the opportunity to star a crossover with one of the main men of boxing nowadays, WBC World Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury. Both Fury and Ngannou have already interchanged heated words on social media so a clash in a boxing ring may not be crazy to happen in the short future.
Tyson Fury is willing to have a boxing fight with Francis Ngannou. (Tom Hogan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“Well, if you’ve been on social media, as you said, you might know by now that yes,it’s something that interests me.Because even on social media, I was down for it. I’m definitely down for it with not only Tyson Fury, but other fighters like Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua. I’m down for those. As for now, I don’t know the exact state of my situation with the UFC. But yeah, I will more than likely do something like that.“, stated Ngannou again for Complex.
