- John McCarthy doesn’t think Francis Ngannou blew a chance to make more money by choosing boxing over a UFC title fight with Jon Jones
- “The Predator” is set to return to MMA but apparently has yet to find an interesting opponent
Now that the smoke has settled, reports stated that Francis Ngannou did not make huge tons of money from the Tyson Fury fight which was contrary to what many expected. Hence, the notion that “The Predator” fumbled the bag by refusing to stay in the UFC and fight Jon Jones began circulating. According to John McCarthy, it depends on how people would look at it but for him, Ngannou didn’t fumble the bag.
It’s not always about the money
Discussing the subject on his Weighing In podcast, McCarthy acknowledged that Ngannou could’ve made more money if he opted to face Jones in the UFC instead of leaving the promotion to pursue pro boxing. However, “Big John” pointed out that as far as fumbling the bag means, “The Predator” didn’t make a mistake because he chose what was more important to him and apparently, it’s freedom over money.
“I don’t think he fumbled the bag. Now, if you want to say did he end up with less money and that’s what your version of fumbling the bag is, okay maybe he did,” McCarthy began. “But fumbling the bag means that you made a mistake and we don’t know exactly what was important to Francis because the Jon Jones fight wasn’t there. Jon was not a heavyweight at that point and let’s be honest, when you’re talking about Jon, you know we all know how good he is but the type of fighter that’s always given him problems is someone that’s his size, someone that he can’t big brother by putting his big reach out there and if there’s the other thing that’s giving him some problems, guys that can hit hard he kind of ends up on his back foot a lot more. It’s a little bit of a different fight for him so when you take a look at it and say fumbling the bag, I don’t think he fumbled the bag.”
“I think he got what was important to him and that was the freedom to do what he wanted because he asked the UFC, ‘Let’s do this together. Let me go do a boxing thing you can be part of the promotion,’ he wanted them to be part of it. It wasn’t like he’s saying I don’t want you to make money. I want you to be part of it, they told him, ‘No.’ And sometimes that freedom is worth every penny that you lost,” he continued.
Francis doesn’t have a great matchup in MMA
What’s done is done and Ngannou is now moving on as he prepares for his PFL debut. However, it has become apparent that the PFL doesn’t have any big-name or high-level opponent for “The Predator,” especially now that his stock rose following his performance against Fury.
Some say that Ngannou’s chance of landing an interesting opponent in MMA right now is when the PFL acquires Bellator but nobody could tell if that will ever happen. As for the Jones fight, Ngannou remains optimistic about taking on “Bones” in the future one way or another.
Check out the the full Weighing In podcast below:
