Sean O’Malley is on the UFC’s side when it comes to the issues with Francis Ngannou.
Ngannou is the UFC Heavyweight Champion. He entered UFC 270 on the last fight of his deal. Ngannou ended up defeating Gane via unanimous decision and now the champion’s clause is in effect. The problem is, Ngannou seems willing to let the contract expire if he can’t come to terms with the UFC.
Backing The Boss
Francis Ngannou has been critical of the UFC for its contract structure. He has complained that he doesn’t have freedom despite being labeled an independent contractor. He also claims to have walked away from at least $7 million over the past couple of years.
During an episode of his podcast, Sean O’Malley expressed his belief that Ngannou has done himself little to no favors.
“Dude, if you’re gonna go out there and just talk sh*t about the boss and the company you can’t just expect no backlash. It makes sense that Dana is running a business and his heavyweight champion, the one that’s the main f*cking champion, he’s the baddest dude on planet earth, is just every interview he gets [he’s] talking sh*t. And I don’t wanna say talking sh*t in a bad way. I guess he’s just talking facts but it is talking sh*t and you can’t do that to the UFC. You can’t do that to Dana. You can’t do that to your boss.”
O’Malley then touched on Ngannou’s comments about YouTube boxers making more than UFC fighters a few months back.
“When you’re the heavyweight champion of the world and Jake Paul is making $20 million a fight, [$7 million isn’t big], but Jake Paul’s a bigger star than Ngannou. If you look at numbers and engagement and fans, sh*t like that, Jake’s a bigger star.”
Speaking of Jake Paul, Ngannou revealed to Ariel Helwani that his manager was threatened with a lawsuit by UFC. The promotion is apparently alleging that Ngannou’s manager linked him to talks with Paul’s team.
