Francis Ngannou owed Kamaru Usman $200,000 ahead of his final UFC fight.
One year after his first and only UFC heavyweight title defense against Ciryl Gane, ‘The Predator’ was granted his outright release from the promotion after the two parties had failed to come to terms on a new contract. Ngannou was reportedly offered a deal that would have made him the highest-paid heavyweight in UFC history. Believing that it was still far less than what he was worth, Ngannou turned the deal down.
For months, pundits slammed Ngannou’s decision to bet on himself, suggesting that he had “fumbled the bag” and would ultimately end up taking a deal somewhere for far less than what the UFC was offering.
Boy, were they wrong.
Last year, Ngannou signed a groundbreaking deal with the Professional Fighter’s League that would guarantee he and his future opponent a multi-million dollar payout per fight. The contract also allowed him to pursue a career in professional boxing. Ngannou’s bet paid off, but during a recent appearance on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo, the Cameroonian revealed just how dire things looked when he initially walked away from the UFC’s offer.
“You were talking earlier about the contract that I turned down,” Ngannou said. “You knew a lot about the stuff that I turned down from the UFC negotiation with my last fight in the UFC. I took $600,000 for my last fight in the UFC as opposed to $5 million that they were offering for the same fight. And I was broke. At the time I owed Usman $200,000. I was broke. It’s true!”
“I was broke. I owed Usman $200K.”
Francis Ngannou says he had to borrow money from Kamaru Usman while he was a champion in the UFC 🤯pic.twitter.com/b7j9S0KvAh
— Lloyd Hojlund Himself♔✪¹¹™ (@RasmuusHojlund) March 8, 2024
Francis Ngannou Had to Be ‘Loyal To Himself’ in Making the Decision to Leave the UFC
“What happened is I had something, I had a goal, I had my own way,” Ngannou explained. “I wanted something and it couldn’t be delivered. I couldn’t sell out what I wanted just because of more money. Obviously, I needed that money. Obviously I never had that amount of money.
“I wasn’t loyal to the dream, I was loyal to myself. What I make sure I always am is loyal to myself. To what I set, my principles, my goals, everything. I don’t change direction because unpredictable things, because of some things that are attractive. I don’t change my direction and I think that’s what happened. Even after that fight, we get to a negotiation, they were pretty much capable to do a lot of concessions, but it wasn’t reaching my expectations, my goal, so we moved. I moved away.”
On Friday, March 8, Francis Ngannou will return to the ring for a high-stakes showdown with the WBC’s top-ranked contender Anthony Joshua. He is expected to earn double what he took home after the Fury fight.
Watch the full episode below:
