Ngannou now free agent, leaves UFC. Jones vs Gane for HW title!

[Schnitzl]

Following UFC Vegas 67 on Saturday, Dana White spoke to the media and confirmed the reports that Jon Jones will face Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight title. Along with that, he announced Ngannou has been released from the UFC as ‘The Predator’ turned down a new contract.

“We offered Ngannou a deal that would make him the highest-paid heavyweight of all time. He turned it down. We’re gonna release him from his contract. He can go and do whatever he wants,” White said at the post-fight press conference.

Not only is Ngannou stripped and released, but White says they waived the exclusive negotiating window and no matching rights clause. Meaning, Ngannou is truly a free agent and can sign with whatever promotion he wants, as soon as possible.

With Ngannou being released, the UFC’s vacant heavyweight title will be up for grabs in the main event of UFC 285 on March 4 as Jon Jones takes on Ciryl Gane. According to Dana White, Jones has been ready to fight since October.

“Jon Jones is literally ready to fight anybody. He didn’t care who it was. We could have done a fight with Jones in October, November, December. But we wanted this fight with Francis,” Jones added.

Francis Ngannou (17-3), meanwhile, enters free agency having never lost the UFC’s heavyweight title. He last fought back at UFC 270 in January of 2021 when he beat Gane by decision to defend his belt for the first time. He won the belt by knocking out Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March of 2021.

As of right now, there is no word on who Ngannou will sign with. However, he has talked about wanting to go into boxing for years. Now that he is no longer with the UFC, perhaps Ngannou steps into the squared circle. But, there is no question Ngannou is arguably the biggest free agent in MMA history.

[FAPhaggot]

DONGER IS FUKKIN TORQUEDdddddd

[sooby]

a shame, Ngannou could have been champion for awhile

but he'll probably box deontay wilder or fury and get that bag.


but Gane and Jones should be awesome hopefully.

[TrueTruth]

lol

The last of Wakanda-wannabe African *******s bites the dust. Good riddance.

cya chump

[fightorrot]

hes a stubborn african, white probably despises him lol

[RiceBrah93]

Was this his way of dodging Jon Jones? Damn. JJ undisputed goat

[iwant2beswole]

We wuz kangz


All African champs dethroned this year. Sad because ngannou vs Jones would have been crazy to see

[IronILLinois]

u guys think hes dodging Jon or what?

[nikeoneplatinum]

u guys think hes dodging Jon or what?

No, Jones is a 205'r who hasn't fought in 3 years, and his last wins weren't that impressive, he probably just figures there's easier ways to make a lot of money.

[scooterbrah]

[Gainzzz]

This is a very low IQ move. He thinks he's gonna go to boxing and make $30m to fight Tyson Fury but who the fuk is gonna wanna watch that fight after Fury/Usyk? Wilder seems to be back in the mix and the AJ fight has to happen at some point. Timing is everything in fighting and the time has passed. It only kind of made sense because Fury was talking retirement. He said that he would fight Wilder for the trilogy then fight Ngannou in a one off "superfight" (or something like that). Fury is all over the place mentally and I wouldn't bet my entire future on him keeping his word. Ngannou vs anyone in boxing is nothing but a cash grab and a total waste of time. He would have made more in the UFC over a few fights than he ever will outside on his own, even if he gets these chitty boxing fights.

Dana said they offered to make him the highest paid HW fighter ever and he should have bitten their hand of. He made dog chit money on his last contract and only fought twice in two years. He will regret this massively.

[Schnitzl]

This is a very low IQ move. He thinks he's gonna go to boxing and make $30m to fight Tyson Fury but who the fuk is gonna wanna watch that fight after Fury/Usyk? Wilder seems to be back in the mix and the AJ fight has to happen at some point. Timing is everything in fighting and the time has passed. It only kind of made sense because Fury was talking retirement. He said that he would fight Wilder for the trilogy then fight Ngannou in a one off "superfight" (or something like that). Fury is all over the place mentally and I wouldn't bet my entire future on him keeping his word. Ngannou vs anyone in boxing is nothing but a cash grab and a total waste of time. He would have made more in the UFC over a few fights than he ever will outside on his own, even if he gets these chitty boxing fights.

Dana said they offered to make him the highest paid HW fighter ever and he should have bitten their hand of. He made dog chit money on his last contract and only fought twice in two years. He will regret this massively.

I hear you but I see his side as well. He's 36 but fought for only 7 years and had knee surgery so he is recovering. The other thing is, he mentioned in an interview that UFC treats fighters as independent contractors but the contracts by Hunter they have to sign lock them in like employees so they can't do one off boxing matches or anything else and a most earnings from anything go to the UFC. That's the issue he is having, it's not the money that UFC is offering. If you want to treat fighters as independent contractors without health insurance, there shouldn't be these ultra restrictive clauses. He feels like a slave he said in an interview.

He's a freak athlete and the hardest puncher the UFC has ever seen so him and Wilder is interesting to a lot of people even though he is likely to get rekt in 1-2 rounds. I say go get that bag if there's potential.

[Gainzzz]

I hear you but I see his side as well. He's 36 but fought for only 7 years and had knee surgery so he is recovering. The other thing is, he mentioned in an interview that UFC treats fighters as independent contractors but the contracts by Hunter they have to sign lock them in like employees so they can't do one off boxing matches or anything else and a most earnings from anything go to the UFC. That's the issue he is having, it's not the money that UFC is offering. If you want to treat fighters as independent contractors without health insurance, there shouldn't be these ultra restrictive clauses. He feels like a slave he said in an interview.

He's a freak athlete and the hardest puncher the UFC has ever seen so him and Wilder is interesting to a lot of people even though he is likely to get rekt in 1-2 rounds. I say go get that bag if there's potential.

Yea I know his reasoning was that he wanted freedom but at the same time, business is business and you only get a short window to make the big bucks in fighting. He has already lost a lot of time through injuries and playing games with the UFC. He should have known that fighters never win. Dana even got Conor to bend the knee ffs.

I like Ngannou. I hope he can make it outside the UFC but I don’t see many roads for him to go down. Wilder is fighting Ruiz in a #1 contender fight which he will most likely win. If he does, that’s easily 12 months that Wilder and Fury are off the table.

How many buys does Wilder/Fury vs Ngannou even do? I unashamedly love freakshow fights but it would piss me off if we see that before the likes of Wilder vs AJ or Fury vs AJ, etc. HW division is popping and I don’t feel like fans want a random Ngannou fight thrown in there which would take one of the big names out for 6+ months.

As I said I think he’s made a huge mistake and MMA fans have lost a major draw. Him vs Jones would have been fookin INSANE.

[FAPhaggot]

This is a very low IQ move. He thinks he's gonna go to boxing and make $30m to fight Tyson Fury but who the fuk is gonna wanna watch that fight after Fury/Usyk? Wilder seems to be back in the mix and the AJ fight has to happen at some point. Timing is everything in fighting and the time has passed. It only kind of made sense because Fury was talking retirement. He said that he would fight Wilder for the trilogy then fight Ngannou in a one off "superfight" (or something like that). Fury is all over the place mentally and I wouldn't bet my entire future on him keeping his word. Ngannou vs anyone in boxing is nothing but a cash grab and a total waste of time. He would have made more in the UFC over a few fights than he ever will outside on his own, even if he gets these chitty boxing fights.

Dana said they offered to make him the highest paid HW fighter ever and he should have bitten their hand of. He made dog chit money on his last contract and only fought twice in two years. He will regret this massively.

Even if Francis only gets like fukking $10M boxing, that pry blows away whatever Dana was offering him.

UFC contracts are horrible. They won't be able to attract or retain elite talent as long as Dana keeps up his "I take an 85% cut, you don't get health insurance as a fukking cage fighter" shtick.

[iloveus]

hes a stubborn african, white probably despises him lol

Ngannou can KO White in less than a second

[iloveus]

Was this his way of dodging Jon Jones? Damn. JJ undisputed goat

How is JJ goat?

[fightorrot]

Ngannou can KO White in less than a second

Right.....That would cost the African everything

Still dana is a fat steroid pig

[Cartiac]

This is a very low IQ move. He thinks he's gonna go to boxing and make $30m to fight Tyson Fury but who the fuk is gonna wanna watch that fight after Fury/Usyk? Wilder seems to be back in the mix and the AJ fight has to happen at some point. Timing is everything in fighting and the time has passed. It only kind of made sense because Fury was talking retirement. He said that he would fight Wilder for the trilogy then fight Ngannou in a one off "superfight" (or something like that). Fury is all over the place mentally and I wouldn't bet my entire future on him keeping his word. Ngannou vs anyone in boxing is nothing but a cash grab and a total waste of time. He would have made more in the UFC over a few fights than he ever will outside on his own, even if he gets these chitty boxing fights.

Dana said they offered to make him the highest paid HW fighter ever and he should have bitten their hand of. He made dog chit money on his last contract and only fought twice in two years. He will regret this massively.

Agreed, I hope he saved some of the money he made because he just ended his career. He brings absolutely nothing of value for promoters to make a fight with guys like Wilder and Fury. Ngannou's UFC PPVs sold very poorly and he doesn't think he should have to do anything to improve those numbers which is a non-started in boxing. He expects to be Conor McGregor without doing any of the work Conor did to make those big money fights happen. Who is going to pay $99 for a highest level HW boxing match with a guy they don't know, isn't a boxer and went an entire 15 minute fight throwing 11 total punches. That little bit of success he got clearly went straight to his head making him think he is way more important than he is.

KO'ing Jon Jones would have made him famous, a ton of money, and opened up a much greater possibility for him to get a crossover fight, but while he is all the talk right now, come next week everyone will move on and he will be forgotten.

[Cartiac]

How is JJ goat?

Well, let's see. Youngest UFC champion ever, never lost a fight, 14 title defenses, the toughest list of opponents with wins over 7 different UFC champions. Who you got?

[Tuga88]

Because Francis got into the game so late people forget he's already 36. He just wants to make as much money as possible while he still can so I don't blame him for leaving, I'll assume he's got a big boxing payday lined up.

[CellyTech]

People keep talking about chit UFC contracts. The UFC made him. Who is he without the UFC PR machine? Literally nobody. The amount of money these dudes make off the back of their name being built in UFC is worth more than the contract.

[Evil_D]

Is the OP legit, when he says Ngannou hasn't fought since 2021!?
WTF. I think I'm in the Twilight Zone and losing time very quickly.

[q0c0p]

Francis wouldve gotten that bag against fury.... a year ago. Now? No one cares. Fury has moved on and it's been too long, no one cares about it anymore. Ufc has successfully squashed any hype and leverage francis had and now he will be forgotten. 1 man cannot beat the machine that is the ufc. Fighters will continue to get the short end of the stick, it is what it is. The fighters chose this route

[Schnitzl]

Is the OP legit, when he says Ngannou hasn't fought since 2021!?
WTF. I think I'm in the Twilight Zone and losing time very quickly.

OP is not legit, 2022 should be in the article I copy-pasted.

In other news, UFC 283 is a banger. Hoping old man Glover brings it home, dude is a legit ambassador and an all around great guy. Unfortunately I think he is going to get folded like a lawn chair by Hill in rd 1

[Midgetkiller]

People keep talking about chit UFC contracts. The UFC made him. Who is he without the UFC PR machine? Literally nobody. The amount of money these dudes make off the back of their name being built in UFC is worth more than the contract.

The UFC picks them clean.

brb not allowed own sponsors in the ring
brb only get shetty free shoes
brb get paid peanuts for being the biggest draw in the UFC whilst putting your body on the line
brb not even allowed to stray once and do some boxing for a huge payday

Like just give Francis the boxing match after the second title defence and you'll have an even bigger star, you cashed in on the boxing as well and Francis is happy.

And in which universe do you have to be loyal to an employer? These guys are making a fortune on your fukking life and you'd suggest to pull your buttcheeks apart and let them nut in it? Fuk that. Glad Francis isn't a cuck, hope he gets a good bag for getting demolished by Fury. He's 36yo, he doesn't need to wait around for uncle Fester to give him a decent piece of pie.

[Gainzzz]

https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/sta...BSoqOec4lm2O_w

Ngannou might get paid after all. I really didn't expect Fury to keep his word on that.

In a cage, 4oz gloves.. I'm suddenly interested lmao. Ngannou would actually have a chance. Fury wouldn't be able to sit on the ropes and slip shots.

Ngannou could go full



He bet on himself big vs Gane and it paid off, and he's done it again if this fight happens. It would surely do around a million buys if promoted correctly.

[Barteh]

Damn and looks like he got offered a Bellator/Showtime contract as well where he can compete in both. He might've made the right move after all.

[ninetynine8]

https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/sta...BSoqOec4lm2O_w

Ngannou might get paid after all. I really didn't expect Fury to keep his word on that.

In a cage, 4oz gloves.. I'm suddenly interested lmao. Ngannou would actually have a chance. Fury wouldn't be able to sit on the ropes and slip shots.

Ngannou could go full



He bet on himself big vs Gane and it paid off, and he's done it again if this fight happens. It would surely do around a million buys if promoted correctly.

iron mike tyson as the ref lmao hype af

but no way man, if it's punches it's not even close. Fury will probably showboat during the fight a bunch to make it interesting

[Gainzzz]

iron mike tyson as the ref lmao hype af

but no way man, if it's punches it's not even close. Fury will probably showboat during the fight a bunch to make it interesting

Obv not close in terms of boxing ability which is why I wasn’t really that interested in Ngannou in a straight up boxing match vs any boxer. However, Fury has spent his whole life in a square ring with ropes and pillows on his hands. Fury plays on the ropes a lot in his fights. 4oz gloves and a cage adds an element of chaos which favours Ngannou massively. He’d still rightfully be a huge underdog but you can’t totally count out the possibility of some wild random haymaker connecting.