Francis Ngannou didn’t ‘fumble the bag’ after all.
Earlier this year, the ex-UFC Heavyweight Champion decided to depart from the promotion and test the waters of free agency. Ngannou took a big gamble on himself but it eventually paid off with him signing a historic deal with the PFL as well as a multi-million dollar payday to box the one and only Tyson Fury on Oct. 28.
Ngannou has taken on a lot of doubters in his post-UFC run, with many criticizing the former champ for leaving the Octagon. UFC President Dana White was guilty of this, claiming that Ngannou didn’t want to ‘take a lot of risk’ and left because ‘he can fight lesser opponents and make more money.’
Ngannou Says It’s No Secret People Want To See Him Fail
‘The Predator’ hasn’t forgotten any of these critiques.
“It’s not a secret that so many people wanted me to fail,” Ngannou said on ‘Unlocking The Cage.’ “They don’t want me to succeed. I mean, it is not a secret. It’s quite obvious and you all know about it. It must feel good, but I would say it’s something that I’m good. It’s a position, it’s something that I used to always like prove people wrong. It came to be my specialty.”
‘I Always Prove Dana White Wrong’
Despite his disinterest in ‘gimmick fights’, White tried to make Tyson Fury fight new heavyweight champion Jon Jones. However, he wanted the fight to take place in the UFC Octagon instead of the boxing ring.
Ngannou beat White to the punch on that, but will be boxing Fury instead of fighting him in MMA. Ngannou made sure to rub in that very fact on his former boss.
“When it comes to Dana, I think I’m all good. For some reason, I always prove Dana White wrong… even when he’s on my side,” Ngannou continued. “Even when he’s on my side, I always prove him wrong every single time. So this is just as usual, our story.
“We get to the point that they were even ready to do Jon Jones and Tyson Fury in, I don’t know, MMA? Why they couldn’t do Ngannou and Fury in boxing? I think that was just like to take the fight out of me. They even sent out a contract. They sent out a contract, which I think that was very embarrassing because that contract was rejected and they signed mine from the gimmick fight promotions.”
In his last negotiations for a new UFC deal, Ngannou expressed he wanted to be able to box while also still being the UFC Heavyweight Champion… of course, we all know how that worked out. But, now Ngannou will be able to do just as he pleases outside of the promotion, whether it’s in the boxing ring with Tyson Fury or the PFL Smart Cage next year.
"For some reason, I always prove Dana White wrong, even when he's on my side."@francis_ngannou on landing his dream fight with @Tyson_Fury
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) July 13, 2023
🚨Hear the FULL interview with @AndreasHale & @RyanMcKinnell, Friday at 3pm ET, on Unlocking the Cage! pic.twitter.com/Qi6bpl070n
