UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou is in a fight against an opponent who never loses.
That’s because he’s in dispute with UFC president Dana White who has never lost when locking horns with the sports previous superstars, including Conor McGregor, Jon Jones and Georges St Pierre.
Ngannou feels unappreciated and undervalued. The Cameroonian-Frenchman is so dominant that he wants White to clear the way so he can box Tyson Fury or another big boxing star. But the UFC are not interested in giving him that kind of freedom.
More to the point, Ngannou feels as heavyweight champ he should get heavyweight earnings. Fury made $30 million for his trilogy clash with Deontay Wilder while Ngannou made a paltry $600,000 for his undisputed title fight with Cyril Gane at UFC 270 last month. Ngannou’s fight fee is probably less than Fury’s training camp expenses.
Ngannou says his days of fighting for “$500,000 or $600,000 are done” but White has shown no interest in breaking the notoriously measly UFC pay structure.
Compared to other sports, UFC pay their elite fighters a lower percentage on their profits, but with names like social media star Jake Paul constantly digging at White to change their policy, it’s more than likely he won’t.
White is standing in the way of Ngannou chasing a fight with Fury and it is Paul who is agitating the situation.
Ngannou said that, ahead of his fight on Saturday, his agent, Marquel Martin, told him the UFC had sent Martin an email threatening to sue him.
The UFC allege that Martin discussed Ngannou negotiating with Nakisa Bidarian, business partner of Jake Paul, to have a boxing match while under UFC contract.
With the YouTuber-turned boxer investing in the UFC’s parent company, this is a story that could run for a while yet.
Comments (0)
We appreciate your feedback. You can comment here with your pseudonym or real name. You can leave a comment with or without entering an email address. All comments will be reviewed before they are published.