Chael Sonnen has explained why he thinks UFC CEO Dana White wasn’t willing to get involved with Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury before “The Predator” became a free agent.
Ngannou is riding high after nearly pulling off a monumental upset over “The Gypsy King” in their boxing match. Following his shocking performance, which saw him dropped Fury and give him all he could handle for 10 rounds, many fans and experts believe the UFC dropped the ball on Ngannou.
Sonnen disagrees with that notion, and feels those of that mindset have a lack of business sense.
Chael Sonnen Scoffs At Idea UFC Fumbled The Bag With Francis Ngannou
Taking to his YouTube channel, Chael Sonnen shared his belief that people should pump the brakes when discussing Francis Ngannou’s recent success.
“The stories and the way they’re coming out is, ‘Francis should be able to re-sign, he should be able to pursue this, he’s great, we should fix this, he should be the champion.’ These things are very nice of you to say, but they also disclose your lack of understanding. So, if you were to put yourself in the decision maker’s shoes and judge what you would do, apparently you would go sign him for endless amounts of money, and apparently if you had the right to him, you would allow somebody else to sign him and they have the money and they go participate,” Sonnen said.
Sonnen also claimed that any boxing promoter would find difficulty in guaranteeing another lucrative fight for Ngannou due to his PFL contract.
“It’s one of these very interesting parts of the business that you fail to understand,” Sonnen said. “‘Why is somebody not coming to Francis and offering him a crazy amount of money?’ Because he’s under contract with the PFL.”
The former UFC title challenger also admitted that there are three opponents that make sense for Ngannou inside the boxing ring, but he’s unsure beyond those fights.
“What do you do if he loses and how many opponents do you believe that you have for him right now? If everything goes great, how many opponents do you have? I will concede to you have Fury, you have Wilder, you have Joshua. So, there’s three. Do you have a fourth? Do you have a fifth?”
Sonnen went on to say that promoters also have to ask if the time frame can align for Ngannou to have fights with the likes of Fury (rematch), Deontay Wilder, and Anthony Joshua. Ultimately, from a business standpoint, Sonnen agrees with the UFC’s decision not to have Francis stick around to avoid this situation.
Here’s the full video of Chael Sonnen’s rant:
