Chael Sonnen Urges Bellator To ‘Ruin The PFL’s Party’ In Signing Free Agent Francis Ngannou And Vice-Versa

Sonnen says Ngannou is 'down to two' MMA promotions to go to.

Ngannou Free Agent
(via @francisngannou - Instagram)

The Francis Ngannou sweepstakes is still underway. 

Months after departing from the UFC, the former heavyweight champion is still left without a fighting home. Promotions such as the BKFC and ONE Championship made many headlines when they revealed they were opting out of signing Ngannou due to financial and non-financial reasons.

With two big players out of the running, Ariel Helwani recently reported that Ngannou is already in a verbal agreement with a MMA promotion that remains nameless. There is a possibility that it is either the PFL or Bellator, which are both top-tier. 

Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen would give his thoughts on ‘The Predator’s’ situation. 

“Ngannou allegedly has decided where he’s going to go and allegedly has told that promotion, he has verbally committed somewhere,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “Whatever promotion that is has told him, ‘Don’t go any further, don’t reveal it, don’t say anything; our marketing team, we’re getting something together. We will all do this together where we think we can get the biggest splash. It’s part of the reason we’re paying you so much’.

Okay, great. Very normal in our industry. But he’s down to two [promotions]. You have Bellator and you have PFL.”

Party Crashing

While it’s not exactly out of their playbook, Sonnen believes Bellator should spoil the PFL’s party if they’re the promotion that Ngannou has committed to, and vice-versa.

“So, Bellator and PFL knows it’s not us. One of them knows it’s not us, which means it’s them. Now, Bellator in a year of Sundays is never going to go onto Twitter. They’re never going to go onto their social media and report something for the PFL. Their mind would never go there, ever. It’s exactly what they should do.

“It is exactly what they should do. Put out the logo, put out a date, put out the CEO if you want to, put out the tweet and ruin the PFL’s party, ruin it. It’s the exact thing that you could, you should do. And [if it’s the other way around] the PFL should do that to Bellator.”

Sonnen On ONE Pulling Out Of The Ngannou Race

Sonnen commends ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong for doing it his own way by stating why they were not going to sign Ngannou, even saying he was offering $20M to the heavy-hitting star

“Now Chatri [Sityodtong] did that, but he didn’t do it in that way. He didn’t come out the way I just said and and actually put out some other brand and make an announcement. He just did it for himself and said, ‘Hey, I’m out. I’m not doing it’. But Chatri got headlines everywhere.”

‘We’re Down To Two’

Like Sityodtong, Chael Sonnen wants Bellator and PFL to work outside-of-the-box  in regards to Francis Ngannou’s complex free agency situation.

“There’s no MMA promotion that would ever put out a press release or information to a competitor. They should. They absolutely should. They should remove themself and get the bounce and get the headlines that Chatri got for free. You would have to write about a quarter million dollars in checks to get the attention and get the exposure that Chatri got yesterday by doing the reverse of whoever signed Francis, whoever signed him.

“It’s gonna do a big press release and he’s gonna bring in all the lights and whistles and they’re gonna hope to God and heaven above that. People find it interesting and they grab it. Chatri did it in reverse, he did no lights and no cameras. And instead of saying he got ’em, he said, ‘I did not get him’. It’s a massive lesson because now we’re down to two.”

Published on May 3, 2023 at 7:11 pm
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